MADRID, 19 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The basketball match between the Ukrainian and Spanish teams, scheduled for Sunday, February 27, in Kiev, has been postponed to the next window -in the months of June or July 2022- due to the insecurity of the current situation International in Ukraine.
“The Ukraine-Spain match corresponding to the qualifying phase for the 2023 World Cup (…) has been postponed and will finally be played in the next window of the months of June-July,” reported the Spanish Basketball Federation ( FEB) in a statement published this Saturday.
The decision corresponded to the International Federation (FIBA), which has decided to postpone the clash between the Ukrainians and the Spanish due to the current uncertainty. In this way, the Ukrainian Federation has finally accepted one of the alternatives offered by FIBA, which was to move it to the dates of the next window, for “when the context is expected to make it possible”.
“In the previous weeks, and depending on the circumstances, FIBA will set the date and venue of the match”, adds the FEB, which recalls that the absolute Spanish team will play a single match in this window, also against Ukraine, the Thursday 24 at the Vista Alegre Municipal Palace in Córdoba.
The next Window, in which the Ukraine-Spain match will take place, is set for the end of June-beginning of July, and in it, in addition to the match against Ukraine, Spain will host North Macedonia on Friday, July 1, and will visit Georgia on Monday 4. With these three games, the first qualifying phase for the 2023 World Cup will close. The second phase, already reduced to 24 countries, will start weeks later, at the end of August, a few days before the Eurobasket.
GARBAJOSA: “THE MOST CORRECT AND RESPONSIBLE DECISION”
The president of the FEB, Jorge Garbajosa, stated that FIBA’s decision is the “most correct and responsible”. “Although we were willing to play both matches of this Qualifying Window, we believe that FIBA has made the most correct and responsible decision, which puts the safety of all those involved in the Kiev match in a preferential position,” he said.
“We regret the situation that our friends in Ukraine are going through and we trust that they can return to normality as soon as possible. From the FEB we have been open to all possible solutions, even to the two matches being played in Córdoba, but We understand that finally the Federation of Ukraine has chosen to take advantage of the option that FIBA has given us and postpone the game until next June’s window”, he asserted.
“We hope that by then any hint of a war will have been forgotten, and FIBA will be the one that decides the date and the final location of this match,” Garbajosa concluded.