EUROBASKET 2021 MOVED BACK TO '22 - Hoopsfix.com

EUROBASKET 2021 MOVED BACK TO ’22

Next year’s EuroBasket for men has been postponed until 2022 as the Olympic qualifiers are rescheduled.

FIBA have confirmed the re-shuffle of the international calendar due to the Covid-19 pandemic but have opted to retain EuroBasket Women in June 2021 when it will serve as a lead-in tournament to the Tokyo Olympics.

The men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will be played, 12 months later, in the period between June 22 and July 4, 2021.

EuroBasket 2021, as well as the FIBA AmeriCup 2021, are rescheduled to the period between September 1-18, 2022.

A statement said: “In order to limit workload for players and maximise the opportunities within the calendar, national teams participating in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers will play the two games originally scheduled for September 2022 at the end of August 2022, during the preparation phase of the FIBA EuroBasket and FIBA AmeriCup.

“All other remaining international windows for reaching EuroBasket 2021 and for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 remain unchanged.”

Women’s EuroBasket 2021  will stay in its diary date for June 17-27 next year but it, and the other three continental championships, will now qualify a total of 16 teams that will compete in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournaments in February 2022.

The FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2020 in Bulgaria has been rescheduled to the same dates as the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2020 in Romania (August 15-23). A final decision on these tournaments will be made in mid-May depending on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.

FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis said: “I’m very pleased that, in a very challenging period, FIBA has been able to conduct an internal consultation process so fast and confirm an updated calendar for our senior tournaments within almost 2 weeks from the IOC’s announcement of the new dates for the Olympic Games. The President and I are grateful to our National Federations, our Zones and all other stakeholders for their swift collaboration.

“The outcome is a calendar of FIBA major events which remains very attractive for our fans, with a balanced distribution of top events, keeping always in mind the welfare and availability of players. I am looking forward to the day when the basketball community will be able to get back on the court.”

FIBA Europe confirmed all its European youth championships for 2020 have been cancelled.