CUP OF CHEER FOR HOME NATIONS
England, Scotland and Wales are set to square off in a new competition to start in 2017, it has emerged.
With England Basketball, along with Scotland and Wales, set to cede their separate membership of world governing body FIBA in 2016 in favour of a new British Basketball Federation, it will see only Great Britain teams competing in official competitions at full and youth group levels.
However, as part of a proposed package of changes to be introduced in the wake of the proposed federal structure, it will see the creation of the Kingdom Cup to allow the senior sides to continue, while also including the developmental Great Britain Futures team and, potentially, other invited countries.
A parallel event, the Brit Cup, will be held at under-18 level and under-16 level, with the three nations also targeting the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast once its qualification criteria are known.
It is understood that an opt-out has been offered by FIBA Europe for the trio to continue to compete at the U16 European Championship until 2020, even though the current Small Nations competitions at senior level are due to disappear.
With the new FIBA calendar due to begin in 2017, it is expected that there will be a greater number of international games throughout the year – rather than solely in the summer – although it is unclear when the Kingdom Cup would take place.
The move comes as Basketball Wales officially ended its long-term resistance yesterday to a unified British set-up.
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