By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
FIBA World Cup qualifiers for November will be played only on Friday (11/11) and Monday (14/11) in Europe as a gesture of goodwill from FIBA that can accommodate EuroLeague players and coaches and permit them to compete also for their national teams.
The long debate between FIBA and EuroLeague about the scheduling remains unsettled, however, FIBA already made a move and EuroLeague, per Eurohoops sources, still denies any change to their schedule.
In theory, EuroLeague players and coaches may be able to compete in the November “window”. For example, Olympiacos players who are scheduled to play on Thursday at home against Partizan can also play on Friday again at home against Latvia with the Greek national team.
On the contrary, Dimitris Itoudis, the head coach of Fenerbahce, is scheduled to play on Friday against Crvena Zvezda in Istanbul and that means that he can’t also coach Greece.
The issue of the scheduling conflict is much more evident in the case of the Italian derby between Milan and Virtus Bologna, which is scheduled to be played on Friday. On the same day, Italy will host Spain. Practically, the players of Milan and Virtus can’t be part of the game and that applies to the head coach of the Spanish national team and also Virtus, Sergio Scariolo.
Since last year, a line of communication had been established between FIBA and the EuroLeague. However, there’s no real progress on the talks at least until today.
It seems highly unlikely that EuroLeague will change its schedule, even if some clubs have asked for modifications, while there are also pressure on this from national federations and also from tv rights holders, who have both the rights for the EuroLeague and the national teams competitions.