Russia and Belarus withdrawn from FIBA's European national team and club competitions

VILNIUS (Lithuania) - The Board of FIBA Europe, which convened in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Friday, decided to apply also to the European national team and club competitions the ruling that FIBA’s Executive Committee reached on Wednesday regarding Russia and Belarus.

Specifically, no official basketball competitions are to be held in either Russia or Belarus until further notice, while the teams of the Russian Basketball Federation and of the Belarusian Basketball Federation are being withdrawn from the upcoming national team competitions and from the club competition season 2022-23. 

The decision of the FIBA Europe Board directly affects the following European competitions: 

FIBA EuroBasket 2022
Russia is withdrawn from FIBA EuroBasket 2022. Montenegro, as the team with the best win-loss record (3-3) among those who didn’t advance from the EuroBasket Qualifiers, will replace Russia in the tournament and will compete in Group A in Tbilisi.

FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers
A total of 12 teams will compete in the Second Round of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers, including: the six teams that won't advance past the First Round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers (following the exclusion of Russia and Belarus); the three group winners in the First Round of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers; The two best second-placed teams in the First Round of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers; Cyprus, as one of the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 co-hosts. These teams will compete in three groups of four teams each, instead of four groups of three teams each, as was the initial format. Cyprus and the three group winners will advance to the Qualifiers. All other teams (from both the First and Second Round) will go on to compete in the Third Round, which is set to start in the summer of 2023. 

FIBA U20 European Championship 2022
Russia is withdrawn from the FIBA U20 European Championship. Russia had finished in fourth place in the most recent edition (2019) of the Division B tournament and had been promoted to Division A as the replacement team for Great Britain, which didn’t register for 2022. Therefore Poland, which finished 14th in the 2019 edition of Division A, will be the replacement team for Russia (subject to confirmation).

FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship 2022
Russia is withdrawn from the FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship. Great Britain, which had taken 4th place in the most recent edition of the Division B tournament (in 2019) would be the replacement team but didn’t register for this year. Therefore Portugal, who finished 14th in the 2019 edition of the Division A championship, will replace Russia (subject to confirmation).

FIBA U18 European Championship 2022
Russia is withdrawn from the FIBA U18 European Championship. North Macedonia, that had finished in fourth place in the most recent edition (2019) of the Division B tournament, will be the replacement team (subject to confirmation). 

FIBA U18 European Championship Division B 2022
Belarus is withdrawn from the FIBA U18 European Championship Division B. Since one team will replace Russia in Division A (see above), the 2022 Division B tournament will be played with 22 teams. 

FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship 2022
Both Russia and Belarus are withdrawn from the FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship. Sweden, which took 4th place in the Division B championship in 2019, will be the replacement team for Russia ((subject to confirmation). Bosnia and Herzegovina, which finished in 14th place in Division A in 2019, will replace Belarus (subject to confirmation).

FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship Division B 2022
As two teams from Division B will compete in Division A (see above) the FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship Division B will take place with 18 competing teams, instead of 20.

FIBA U16 European Championship 2022
Russia is withdrawn from the FIBA U16 European Championship. Montenegro, which had finished in 4th place in the 2019 edition of the Division B tournament, will replace Russia (subject to confirmation). 

FIBA U16 European Championship Division B 2022
Belarus is withdrawn from FIBA U16 European Championship Division B and since one team will replace Russia in Division A (see above), this year’s Division B tournament will be played with 22 teams. 

FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship 2022
Russia is withdrawn from the FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship. Norway, which had taken 4th place in the 2019 edition of the Division B competition, will be the replacement team (subject to confirmation).

FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship Division B 2022
Belarus is withdrawn from the FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship Division B and, since one team is replacing Russia (see above), the 2022 edition of the Division B tournament will be played with 19 teams.

EuroLeague Women 2022-23, EuroCup Women 2022-23 and FIBA Europe Cup 2022-23
No clubs from either Russia or Belarus will be eligible to register for any of these three continental club competitions for the 2022-23 season.

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