By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After a number of complaints about refereeing mistakes and two blatant errors in the games Lithuania – Germany, and Turkey – Georgia, FIBA admitted the mistakes and clarified that from the 44 referees that initially started the competition, only 20 will continue in Berlin and the final stage.
Of course, it’s natural to eliminate a number of refs, due to the limited amount of games, however, it’s also obvious that some of the refs who didn’t make the cut, simply were not ready for this level of competition.
Per the press release: Following several queries by the media regarding the officiating at FIBA EuroBasket 2022, FIBA has confirmed the following:
FIBA has acknowledged two serious errors which occurred during the Group Phase of the event.
The first one occurred during the Group B game between Lithuania and Germany when the game officials and the scorers’ table failed to award a merited free throw following a technical foul. FIBA decided that all three game officials and the game commissioner will not officiate anymore until the end of the event.
The second one was a timekeeping operation error during the game Turkey-Georgia. Following expert analysis of the precision timing system records, the conclusion is that, although the game clock had been stopped by the officials, the special device at the back of a referee’s uniform was activated accidentally by one of the players when the referee was trying to separate the players during an on-court incident.
A number of further measures are taken by FIBA to ensure that the EuroBasket officials perform at a high level and that their overall performance continuously improves during the competition, including independent evaluations of the referees, as well as extensive pre- and post-game individual and officiating team sessions.
FIBA will continue to evaluate the performance of the officials, taking all necessary measures throughout the competition, but it will equally not accept abuse of its officials before, during, and after the games. FIBA calls upon all stakeholders to safeguard a proper environment where the officials, similar to the players, can perform on the court.
The selection of officials for the Final Phase starting tomorrow has been finalized: 20 out of 44 have been selected to officiate in Berlin. All these referees are officiating games involving the best players competing in Europe on a weekly basis in their domestic leagues. Additionally, they combine an experience of 36 EuroBaskets, 12 World Cups, and 12 Olympic games.
Those 20 referees are the following:
- Kerem Baki (Turkey)
- Lorenzo Baldini (Italy)
- Fernando Calatrava (Spain)
- Luis Castillo (Spain)
- Antonio Conde (Spain)
- Gvidas Gedvilas (Lithuania)
- Aleksandar Glisic (Serbia)
- Martin Horozov (Bulgaria)
- Martins Kozlovskis (Latvia)
- Boris Krejic (Slovenia)
- Saverio Lanzarini (Italia)
- Nicolas Maestre (France)
- Mihkel Manniste (Estonia)
- Paulo Marques (Portugal)
- Yohan Rosso (France)
- Carsten Straube (Germany)
- Yener Yilmaz (Turkey)
- Dariusz Zapolski (Poland)
- Ademir Ζurapovic (Bosnia)
- Oskars Lucis (Latvia)