The International Basketball Federation, FIBA, moves Sweden’s World Cup qualifiers against Estonia and Israel.
This leads to outrage in the Swedish Basketball Association.
– This will cost us financially, says Secretary General Frederic Gullameau.
The conflict between the Euroleague and FIBA complicates the scheduling of the World Cup qualifiers.
The Euroleague does not want to hand over its players to the national teams, but now the settlement between the two parties has led to the transfer of several matches.
‘Very bad decision’
The decision means, among other things, the transfer of Sweden’s World Cup qualifier matches against Israel and Estonia in November. The first leg against Israel has been moved from Sunday 13 November to Monday 14 November.
It is very unfortunate that FIBA made such a decision so late in the game and it is not one we stand behind, says Swedish Basketball Association President Susan Gidsten in a press release.
Secretary-General Frederic Gulamo is not happy either.
– From our side, it’s a very bad decision. It’s not well installed, poorly equipped, and doesn’t give us very much room to work in a situation where we’ve sold a number of tickets for the match and started looking for partnerships with TV companies and others, Joulamo tells Sportbladet.
He says he expects more from FIBA, among other things in terms of dialogue with National Societies.
– There has been feverish activity since we found out about this and we are in dialogue all day long with other unions. Our point of view is shared by those we spoke to, and we can’t find anyone positive about this decision yet.
require compensation
The Swedish Basketball Association will lose money from lower ticket revenue and from the fact that Monday’s matches bring in less revenue on television.
– This is going to cost us financially because we end up on a worse ticket day and need to pay the tickets. This evaluation must have been done and then one wonders who is benefiting from it and how FIBA plans to compensate us for it.
Will you claim financial compensation from FIBA?
– Yes, that is the starting point now – to discuss how they intend to support us financially. We are not alone in this. In Latvia, they have a completely sold-out Riga Arena with 11,000 spectators. We don’t have that many audience, but we have similar problems.
Sweden still has the slightest chance of qualifying for the 2023 Basketball World Cup. The team must pass the world country Slovenia, which leads by two points in the qualifying group.