By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
As it was announced officially by FIBA Europe, the decision is taken and Eurobasket 2015 will not be held at Ukraine, but in a new destination which will be decided by the end of September.
The unstable political situation and “security issues” in Ukraine were the reasons for this decision, however Ukraine and FIBA Europe will start negotiations immediately for the possibility of hosting Eurobasket 2017. With Ukraine out of the way, FIBA Europe will use the new Eurobasket format in 2015 instead of 2017. That means a two weeks tournament (5-20 September 2015) with a group phase of 24 teams (4 groups of 6 teams) and a knock out phase right after between the 16 best teams. FIBA Europe wanted from the start to use this format in Eurobasket 2015, but the previous hosts, the Ukrainian federation, declined the possibility of a shorter tournament.
As for Eurobasket 2015, a “new bidding process will now be opened to all European Federations inviting single or multi-country bids”. The process end at the 31 of July and the final decision for the hosts of Eurobasket 2015 will be taken by the 30th of September 2014 at the latest.