April 10, 2020 - The Executive Board of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has decided on the terms of the next three major tournaments. Thus, the Olympic qualifying tournament in Split has been moved to June 2021.
Gol.hr reports that the basketball qualification tournament for the Olympic Games will now be held in Split from June 22 and July 4, 2021, and the EuroBasket, which is due to be held next year, has been postponed for September 1 to 18, 2022, confirmed the Executive Board of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) at Thursday’s meeting held via video conference.
"After a detailed analysis of all possible scenarios and following the recommendations of the Regional Offices and the Competition Commission, the FIBA Executive Board made the following changes to the calendar: Olympic Qualifying Tournaments for men will be played from 22 June to 4 July 2021 (the exact date is pending approval from the International Olympic Committee); FIBA EuroBasket 2021 and FIBA AmeriCup 2021 have been moved to 1 to 18 September 2022,” FIBA said in an official statement adding that the first two FIBA World Cup 2023 qualifying matches, which were to be played in September 2022, will be rescheduled in August, when the European and US national teams will prepare for EuroBasket and AmeriCup, while all other qualifying dates, including those for continental competitions, remain unchanged.
The FIBA Afrobasket (August 24 - September 5) and the FIBA Asia Cup (August 17-29) will be held next year, but will be shifted by one week to avoid overlapping dates with the Tokyo Olympics.
The FIBA EuroBasket for women’s basketball remained in the scheduled period from June 17 to 27, 2021, and in a similar period (June 20-27, 2021), the FIBA AmeriCup will be held. With four continental competitions, 16 teams will compete in the FIBA Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament, scheduled for February 2022.
"All other senior competition dates scheduled between 2020 and 2023 remain unchanged," the statement said.
"I am very pleased that we have been able to conduct internal consultations and confirm changes to the competition calendar within two weeks of the IOC's announcement of a new Olympic Games date," FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis said in a statement.
"The result is that the calendar of major FIBA events remains very attractive to our fans, with a balanced schedule of major tournaments and keeping in mind the well-being and availability of players. I look forward to the day when the basketball community will be able to return to the court again," Zagklis added.
"As for the EuroBasket to be played in September 2022 and its preparatory period - I think we can be pleased.
As the World Cup Qualifiers were moved into the preparation period of the European Championships, we certainly have a pool of players," said HKS President Stojko Vrankovic, who, among other things, was a FIBA Europe Board member and participated in conversations about calendar changes.
"There was talk that the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments would move to September this year, but my position was that, given the current situation with the pandemic, the economic situation that follows, and given the consequences of the earthquake in Zagreb, it would not be feasible. FIBA has looked at the overall situation, listened to many and decided to postpone these tournaments for next year."
The FIBA Executive Board continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic daily and assesses all options for the possible continuation of the competition once all the preconditions have been created.
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