By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
EuroLeague Basketball has been examining various options and considering the different cities that may be able to host a final stage for the completion of the 2019-2020 season amid the coronavirus crisis.
Athens (Greece), Belgrade (Serbia), Cologne (Germany) and Kaunas (Lithuania) are four cities that are among EuroLeague’s options from a list of candidate-locations. EuroLeague wants to conclude the season with the 18 teams playing all remaining regular-season games and then the top eight teams participating in a Final Eight tournament a la Final Four.
The plan of EuroLeague is that the whole phase will take place from 4 to 26 of July. In order for this schedule to be feasible, the organization requires each city to provide two arenas that fulfill the necessary standards for the games to be played simultaneously so that the calendar will be completed on time, Eurohoops has learned.
While Belgrade and Athens both have the suitable facilities (Stark Arena and Hala Pionir in Belgrade, OAKA Arena, and Peace and Friendship Stadium in Athens), Kaunas will need to co-host the tournament with Vilnius, and Cologne with either near-located Bonn or Dusseldorf.
OAKA and Peace and Friendship arenas have already given a positive reply to EuroLeague’s inquiry regarding their capability to host the tournament, according to Eurohoops’ sources.
EuroLeague is expected to make its final decision on the matter quite soon.
As of now (Thursday, 30/4, afternoon) the coronavirus cases/deaths in each of the aforementioned countries are the following:
Greece (population 10,72 million): 2.576 cases, 139 deaths
Germany (population 83,02 million): 161,552 cases, 6,467 deaths
Lithuania (population 2,8 million): 1,385 cases, 45 deaths
Serbia (population 6,98 million): 8,724 cases, 173 deaths