By Aris Barkas/ info@eurohoops.net
Via an official letter to FIBA, Israeli Basketball Federation president Amiram Halevi notified that every player that will refuse the call to the national team will be sanctioned and even expelled from the domestic league games.
Since there is no conflicting schedule between EuroCup or Basketball Champions League clubs and the World Cup qualifiers, the above message was clearly directed to players of Maccabi Tel Aviv, the only EuroLeague team from Israel.
While the Israeli squad didn’t include any players contracted by Maccabi Tel Aviv in the EuroBasket, the national team’s new coach might want to see some players of the “Yellows” participating in the World Cup Qualifiers.
But will the club allow its players to leave with a busy season in progress when sometimes they have to play two games in three days?
Eurohoops asked Maccabi president Mr. Shimon Mizrahi about the matter and here is what the iconic head of the five-time EuroLeague champions told us: “Maccabi will do what the rest of the 16 Euroleague teams will do. This is a dispute between FIBA and the Euroleague. I don’t think that the federation should interfere.”
“They rushed to make this announcement. They should have consulted with all parties involved,” Mizrahi added.