November 21, 2020 - The Croatia basketball team travels to Istanbul on Sunday, November 23, for a new cycle of qualifications for the European Championship.

According to stringent rules, the qualifications will be played in a 'bubble, so as not to risk the health of players, coaches, referees, and the rest of the delegations. Croatia national team members will only move from the hotel to the hall and back, in a special bus and without interacting with anyone outside their own delegation, except, of course, during the official game.

Before the team heads to Turkey, Croatia national team coach Veljko Mršić, despite all the challenges that are unquestionably posed to the national team, but also sports in general, is determined and currently focused on only one goal: going to the European Championship.

"I expect to provide good games and, given the good outcome of the previous windows, our goal is to secure a place in the European Championship now," the coach began.

"But it’s hard to plan. There are many unknowns, another round of coronavirus testing awaits us before departure, there are very few days of preparation, and we will only see the strength of the rival teams on the spot. In this cycle, we will play against Turkey and Sweden. It is a pity that we are in this current epidemiological situation because we were supposed to play Turkey at home, in front of our audience. As for the list of players, we waited to announce it until the first test results. Fortunately, only a small number of players were positive, so more or less everyone we wanted is on the list. "

In the upcoming qualification cycle, coach Veljko Mršić will count on the following players:

BILAN, Miro - Dinamo Sassari

DREŽNJAK, Mateo - Cibona

GABRIĆ, Tomislav - Enea Astoria

JORDANO, Antonio - Vrijednosnice Osijek

KRUŠLIN, Filip - Dinamo Sassari

MARČINKOVIĆ, Pavle - Split

MARIĆ, Marin - BC Lietkabelis

MAVRA, Dominik - Zadar

PERKOVIĆ, Toni - Split

PRKAČIN, Roko - Cibona

RADIĆ, Ivica - Anwil Wloclawek

RAMLJAK, Ivan - ŚLĄSK

ROGIĆ, Roko - Mitteldeutscher BC

ŠAKIĆ, Željko - Avtodor

STIPČEVIĆ, Rok - Krka Novo Mesto

UKIĆ, Roko Leni - Cedevita Olimpija

VRANKOVIĆ, Antonio - Split

* There are 17 players on the list, and 14 travel to Istanbul.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFICATION MATCHES

11/27/2020 at 17:00 (19:00 in Istanbul): Croatia - Turkey
11/29/2020 at 18:00 (20:00 in Istanbul): Sweden - Croatia

Source: HKS

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The Croatian basketball team gathered in Zagreb on Monday to begin one-month of preparations for the European Championship (EuroBasket). Training began today in Sv. Martin na Muri.