The tournament was played in two different stages. In the first stage, the fifteen participants were divided into four groups (three groups of four teams and one group of three teams). In the second stage, two groups were formed, one containing the winners and runners-up from all first stage groups (eight teams in total) to contest the tournament title. A second group was formed by the remaining seven teams which played for position places (9th to 15th). All groups in both stages played a single round-robin format.