The Executive Committee of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has decided to move the European Zone I and J group games of the 2023 World Cup qualification tournament from November 10 and 13 to November 11 and 14, respectively, affecting the matches of the Latvian national team against Greece away from home and Great Britain on their court, reports the Latvian Basketball Association.
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According to the new calendar, Latvia’s away game against Greece will take place on Friday, November 11 (expected to be in Heraklion), while the home game against Great Britain will take place on Monday, November 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Arena Riga.
Justifying the FIBA Executive Committee’s decision, the FIBA Executive Director for Europe, Kamil Novaks, states in an official letter that many national federations are negotiating with EuroLeague clubs and have urged EuroLeague to postpone the games scheduled for November 10 and 11 a day earlier, so that players can join the national teams.
The Euroleague has not yet responded to this request, however, FIBA has already made changes to its approved calendar without coordinating them with the national federations.
“Suddenly changing the approved competition calendar, without taking into account the objections of many participating national federations, does not comply with the principles of good governance, to which we drew the attention of FIBA leaders together with colleagues from other participating federations,” said LBS General Secretary Kaspars Tsiprus. “Unfortunately, the decision has been upheld: the game between Latvia and Great Britain will take place on November 14 at 19:30.”
On behalf of FIBA, Tsipruss apologized for the inconvenience caused to all fans who bought tickets. “On behalf of LBS and the national team, I hope to see everyone in the stands of “Arena Riga”, because of course the tickets will also be valid on November 14,” he continued.
LBS indicates that if fans will not be able to attend the game on November 14 due to these changes, tickets can be returned and their face value recovered by sending tickets to the e-mail “[email protected]” until October 31 at 23:59.
The nominal value of the tickets will be transferred by November 7 to the account from which the payment was made or the payment method in which the tickets were purchased (the process is irreversible – the sent e-mail cannot be revoked).
In Group I of the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualification tournament, after six rounds of matches, the Latvian national team with five victories takes first place in the group table – ahead of Greece (4-2), Belgium (3-3), Serbia (3-3), Turkey ( 2-4) and Great Britain (1-5) teams.
In the November game cycle, the Latvian team will play away in Greece, as well as at home against Great Britain. At the end of February 2023, in the last cycle of the qualifying tournament, a trip to Turkey and a home game with Greece await.
The winners of the first three places will qualify for the final tournament.
