By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
FIBA announced the hosts for the upcoming Windows of the 2022 EuroBasket Qualifiers, 2021 Women’s EuroBasket Qualifiers and the 2023 World Cup European pre-Qualifiers that will take place in November.
Per FIBA:
The hosts of the tournaments for the upcoming November 2020 windows of the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2021 and FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers, as well as the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Pre-Qualifiers have been confirmed.
The FIBA Europe Board approved 16 applications to host qualification games in a protected environment tournament format (bubbles), in its 10th meeting, held via videoconference on Thursday.
Each of the men’s and women’s tournament will consist of the teams of one group – four teams each, or three teams for some of the women’s groups.
Three of the women’s Qualifiers tournaments will be confirmed in the coming days, following an additional round of consultation with the participating countries in each of the concerned groups.
In case a host for a group isn’t established, it would then be played in one of the already designated bubbles.
The locations approved by the Board are as follows:
FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers (November 23 – December 1, 2020)
| Group | City | Country |
| A – ISR/POL/ESP/ROU | Valencia | Spain |
| B – ITA/EST/MKD/RUS | Tallinn | Estonia |
| C – BEL/LTU/CZE/DEN | Vilnius | Lithuania |
| D – CRO/NED/SWE/TUR | Istanbul | Turkey |
| E – GEO/SRB/FIN/SUI | Espoo | Finland |
| F – HUN/UKR/AUT/SLO | Ljubljana | Slovenia |
| G – GER/FRA/GBR/MNE | Pau | France |
| H – GRE/BUL/BIH/LAT | Sarajevo | Bosnia & Herzegovina |
FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers (November 8-16, 2020)
| Group | City | Country |
| A – SLO/GRE/BUL/ISL | Heraklion | Greece |
| B – SWE/MNE/ISR | TBC | |
| C – BIH/RUS/SUI/EST | Sarajevo | Bosnia & Herzegovina |
| D – CZE/ROU/ITA/DEN | TBC | |
| E – SRB/TUR/LTU/ALB | Istanbul | Turkey |
| F – GBR/BLR/POL | TBC | |
| G – BEL/UKR/POR/FIN | Odivelas | Portugal |
| H – HUN/NED/SVK | Amsterdam | Netherlands |
| I – CRO/GER/LAT/MKD | Riga | Latvia |
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Pre-Qualifiers (November 23 – December 1, 2020)
| Group | City | Country |
| A – POR/CYP/BLR/ALB | Matosinhos | Portugal |
| B – SVK/KOS/ISL/LUX | Bratislava | Slovakia |
The most important criteria in choosing the hosts was health and travel guarantees and compliance with FIBA health protocols, including testing and controlled entry into a secure environment.
Preference was given to candidacies from nations that are scheduled to play two home games in the November window.
The exact schedule of games will be confirmed later this month.
The decision about the hosts of the February bubbles will at latest be taken by the Board in December.
The decision to play both windows in bubbles, instead of home and away games, for men’s competitions was confirmed by the FIBA Executive Committee in September after taking into consideration the health and safety of players, coaches and officials, and following a recommendation from the Medical and Competitions Commissions.
The same format was also adopted for the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2021 Qualifiers by the FIBA Europe Board in its previous meeting.
FIBA will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation in Europe on a daily basis and communicate further updates regarding FIBA Competitions when necessary.