FIBA Europe Board approves youth competition organizers, decides on tip-off dates of club competitions
MUNICH (Germany) - The 8th meeting of the FIBA Europe Board, term of office 2019-2023, took place via videoconference on Tuesday.
The Board discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect basketball operations in Europe, most importantly the upcoming 2020-21 season of European club competitions.
While the desire of FIBA Europe is to resume competitive action as soon as possible, current restrictions, including travel, by local authorities are complicating planning and organization of its competitions.
In that respect the Board, after careful consideration, has decided the following:
EuroLeague Women
A meeting will be organized with all EuroLeague Women clubs and respective National Federations to work on solutions regarding governmental exceptions for sports teams to travel, following a certain protocol, that would allow the Qualifiers to take place in late September and a Regular Season start in mid-October, as originally planned.
The situation will continue to be evaluated daily, and adjustments may be applied, always taking into account the health and safety of the participating athletes as top priority.
EuroCup Women
The start of the season of the second tier of women's European club competitions has now been rescheduled to December 10 and 17 with the two legs of the Qualifying Round. The Regular Season will tip off on January 7, 2021 with 32 teams in 8 groups of 4.
16 teams will qualify to the Round of 16 and all subsequent rounds will be played in a knock-out, home and away format.
FIBA Europe Cup
The start of the Regular Season of FIBA Europe Cup is now rescheduled to January 6, 2021.
The Regular Season will still be played with the teams split in six groups of four and one group of three teams. The top two teams of each group and the two best 3rd placed teams will advance to the Round of 16 which will be played in a knock-out, home and away format.
For all three competitions FIBA Europe will evaluate the possibility of organizing games in single venues (as in the current Basketball Champions League Qualifying Round "bubbles") and concrete proposals will be presented in the next Board meeting in October.
Youth Competitions 2021
The Board confirmed the large majority of the 2020 organizers as hosts of the respective edition of the 2021 Youth European Championships.
The only exceptions are the U20 Men's Division A tournament and both the U20 Women's Division A and B events. FIBA Europe will open a bid for these three events in the coming weeks and a decision will be taken during the November Board meeting.
MEN
| EVENT | DATES | VENUE | COUNTRY |
| FIBA U20 European Championship | July 17-25 | N/A | N/A |
| FIBA U20 European Championship, Division B | July 16-25 | Tbilisi | GEO |
| FIBA U18 European Championship | July 31 - August 8 | Konya | TUR |
| FIBA U18 European Championship, Division B | July 30 - August 8 | Oradea (TBC) | ROU |
| FIBA U18 European Championship, Division C | July 27 - August 1 | Serravalle | SMR |
| FIBA U16 European Championship | August 13-21 | Skopje | MKD |
| FIBA U16 European Championship, Division B | August 12-21 | Sofia | BUL |
| FIBA U16 European Championship, Division C | July 10-18 | Prishtina | KOS |
WOMEN
| EVENT | DATES | VENUE | COUNTRY |
| FIBA U20 Women's European Championship | July 3-11 | N/A | N/A |
| FIBA U20 Women's European Championship, Division B | July 3-11 | N/A | N/A |
| FIBA U18 Women's European Championship | July 24 - August 1 | Heraklion | GRE |
| FIBA U18 Women's European Championship, Division B | July 23 - August 1 | Oberwart, Gussing | AUT |
| FIBA U18 Women's European Championship, Division C | July 27 - August 1 | Andorra la Vella | AND |
| FIBA U16 Women's European Championship | August 6-14 | Matosinhos | POR |
| FIBA U16 Women's European Championship, Division B | August 5-14 | Sarajevo | BIH |
| FIBA U16 Women's European Championship, Division C | July 13-18 | Gibraltar | GIB |
In other matters the Board was briefed about preparations for FIBA EuroBasket 2022 and FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2021; the success of the FIBA U17 Skills Challenge; and the second round of meetings with the European National Federations in late June.
The next meeting of the Board will take place in October, followed by the FIBA Europe General Assembly, to be held also via videoconference.
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FIBA (fiba.basketball) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 213 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognized as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
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