Statement: FIBA decisions on Russia and Belarus for upcoming competitions
Following the postponement of Great Britain Men’s two FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers in February, FIBA have today released a statement confirming the Russian and Belarusian National Teams have been withdrawn from the competition.
It means GB Men will qualify for the second round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for the first time in the competition’s 72-year history.
Read the full statement from FIBA below.
Further to the decision taken on March 1, 2022, and confirmed by the Central Board on March 25, 2022, to not allow Russian teams and officials to participate in FIBA Basketball and 3×3 Basketball competitions, the FIBA Executive Committee today has confirmed the following decisions in regard to the Russian Basketball Federation (RBF) and the Belarusian Basketball Federation (BBF) for FIBA Basketball Competitions that will take place over the coming months.
FIBA’s Executive Committee has decided the following:
• No FIBA Official Basketball Competitions are to be held in Russia or Belarus until further notice.
• Teams from the RBF and the BBF are to be withdrawn from the following FIBA National Team Competitions:
FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers:
Russia is withdrawn from Group H and Belarus is withdrawn from Group B of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers, with no replacement teams appointed. All results from both teams are annulled and consequently, the rest of the Group’s teams advance to the second round of Qualifiers with 4 games played. To uniformly classify teams across these two groups (H and G; A and B), the first-round games against the last ranked teams of Group G and Group A will not be considered for the classification to Group L and I.
FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022:
Russia is withdrawn from the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 to be played in Hungary from July 9 to 17. The replacement team is Serbia, second in Group B of the FIBA U16 Women’s European Challenger 2021 and only second team of any group that did not qualify (qualification in that group was given to the host Hungary who finished third).
FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022:
Russia is withdrawn from the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 to be played in Australia from September 22 to October 1. The replacement team is Puerto Rico, as decided last March given the circumstances surrounding the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 Qualifying Tournament in Washington D.C.
• Teams from the RBF and BBF are to be withdrawn from the following
FIBA 3×3 National Team Competitions:
FIBA 3×3 World Cup 2022
Russia is withdrawn from the FIBA 3×3 World Cup. The next ranked teams, Israel for women and Slovenia for men, will be invited to participate.
FIBA 3×3 U23 Nations League 2022
Russia is withdrawn from the FIBA 3×3 U23 Nations League. There will be no replacement teams.
FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup (Qualifiers) 2022
Belarus is withdrawn from the FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup Qualifiers 2022. There will be no replacement teams. Russia is withdrawn from the FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup 2022. The replacement teams will qualify through the FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup Qualifiers 2022.
FIBA 3×3 U17 Europe Cup Qualifiers 2022
Belarus is withdrawn from the FIBA 3×3 U17 Europe Cup Qualifiers 2022. There will be no replacement teams.
FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup 2022
Belarus is withdrawn from the FIBA 3×3 U18 World Cup 2022. The next ranked teams, Belgium for women and Lithuania for men, will be invited to participate.
• Teams representing Russian or Belarusian clubs or cities, as well as Russian and Belarusian players, are not allowed to register and qualifiers will not be held in Russia or Belarus for the following FIBA 3×3 Pro Circuit events:
FIBA 3×3 World Tour
FIBA 3×3 Challengers
FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series
FIBA’s European Zone Board and the Basketball Champions League Board have been invited to take corresponding decisions for the respective national team and club competitions, which will be communicated in the next coming days. FIBA will continue to closely monitor the situation and take further decisions as needed.