By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
FIBA’s Executive Committee met on April 9 via video conference to discuss the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the schedule of competitions under its care.
Among the decisions, 2021 EuroBasket and AmeriCup have been rescheduled to a period between September 1-18, 2022.
The same applies to the September 2022 WC qualification window which was moved to August 2022 in order to reduce the players’ workload. Those games will practically be part of the EuroBasket preparation period.
Per FIBA:
FIBA’s Executive Committee met today via video conference for an extraordinary meeting concerning the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic to the FIBA Calendar.
The most recent Central Board meeting confirmed the suspension of all FIBA competitions, which occurred on March 13, and also delegated the FIBA Executive Committee to make any necessary adjustments to the FIBA Calendar initially approved by the Central Board in 2015, following the change of dates to the Tokyo Olympic Games.
FIBA welcomed last week the confirmation of the revised dates for Tokyo 2020, July 23 – August 8, 2021, and thanked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its collaborative and timely resolution to this complex situation.
After careful analysis of the possible scenarios and following the recommendations of the Regional Offices and of the Competitions Commission, the FIBA Executive Committee has made the following adjustments to the calendar:
FIBA Senior Tournaments – Men
The FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will be played in the period between June 22 and July 4, 2021 (exact dates pending IOC approval).
The FIBA EuroBasket 2021 and the FIBA AmeriCup 2021 are rescheduled to the period between September 1-18, 2022.
In order to limit workload for players and maximize 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 dates of Qualifiers for the Continental Cups 2021 and for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 remain unchanged.
The FIBA Afrobasket 2021 (August 24 – September 5) and the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 (August 17-29) are rescheduled by one and two weeks respectively, in August 2021, to avoid the calendar clash with the Tokyo Olympic Games.
FIBA Senior Tournaments – Women
The FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2021 is rescheduled to June 20-27, 2021, prior to the Tokyo Olympic Games and on similar dates as the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2021 (June 17-27 2021).
The four Women’s Continental Cups will qualify a total of 16 teams that will compete in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournaments in February 2022.
The dates of all other FIBA Senior Tournaments at world and continental level, as well as their Qualifiers, for the period 2020 – 2023 remain without change.
FIBA Youth World Cups
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.