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Photo: BNS
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With the coronavirus situation deteriorating in Europe, EuroLeague leaders are considering even the most drastic solutions possible.
Sotiris Vetakis, representative of the SDNA website, announces that Euroleague leaders have summoned representatives of basketball leagues from several European countries, including the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL), next Thursday.
The main topics of the remote conference will be the threat of the coronavirus in the course of the season, the risk of its cessation and the search for alternatives.
In the Euroleague, eight games have already been postponed, compared to six in the European Cup.
Vetakis reports that one of the alternatives that will be offered at the meeting is to divide the season into two parts. 3-4 months would be reserved for the completion of the national championships, and the international tournaments would be completed during the remaining 3-4 months.
For such a scenario to be approved, it will require the consent of not only the leaders of the Euroleague clubs and national championships, but also the FIBA organization, which organizes the Champions League. True, it is said that FIBA is already aware of this idea by Jordi Bertomeu.
It is added that if such a scenario is approved, then it is more realistic for national championships and cup tournaments to be completed first and international competitions to be suspended.
The Euroleague, the European Cup and other international tournaments could resume in February as soon as possible.
Ettore Messina, a strategist at AX Armani Exchange in Milan, also circulated the message on Monday morning. Italy supports this decision and also proposes to suspend the Euroleague for at least a few months.
“Dear basketball friends, after long deliberations I decided to send this message to those who will not waste 5 minutes of their time.
I was lucky enough to be successful enough to have a long career in international basketball. My teams have honorably participated in the tournaments organized by FIBA, Euroleague and ULEB.
Despite disagreements, I have always respected the vision and leadership of Mr. Stankovičius and Mr. Baumann, who left Anapilin. I am also proud to be an old friend of Mr Portela, Mr Bertomeu and the current president of ULEB Mr Van Den Spiegel.
We live in very difficult and demanding times. The governments of most European countries have decided to return the total or at least partial quarantine to protect the population from COVID-19. Every week we have more and more infected basketball players, coaches or club members.
More and more games are postponed. Soon we will not have free seats to play postponed games.
It seems that the only logical solution now is to suspend the European tournaments and allow the national championships to end the seasons in the next four months, as traveling between their own countries is much easier.
After that, all international tournaments can be completed in March or April. Hopefully this can be done before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, and maybe then the coronavirus will stop or be completely overcome.
Of course, this situation will also need the support of the partners and sponsors of the television broadcast, but I believe that the communion created by our leaders will allow them to join us.
The health of the participants and the honesty of the tournament is a top priority and we, as fans, will be eternally grateful to our leaders for their decisions, ”Messina wrote in his letter.
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