GB Men & Women to play November games in central ‘bubbles’

The Great Britain Men and Women’s November home games have been switched to central bubbles in France and Turkey respectively, FIBA has announced.

The pair of EuroBasket 2022 Qualifiers against France (November 27) and Montenegro (November 29), scheduled to take place in the UK, were switched to Pau last week along with other Group G games as a safety precaution in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And, it was announced today that the GB Women’s EuroBasket Women 2021 Qualifier against Poland will also take place in a central Group F bubble in Istanbul on November 14.

The FIBA Europe Board approved 16 applications to host qualification games in a protected environment tournament format.

The decision about the hosts of the February window 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.

As part of its statement FIBA said: “The most important criteria in choosing the hosts was health, travel guarantees and compliance with FIBA health protocols, including testing and controlled entry into a secure environment.”

*This article was first published on 15 October. It has been updated to include fixture dates.