FBU will exclude players from basketball for up to two years in case of refusal to participate in matches for the national team of Ukraine

Executive Committee of the Ukrainian Basketball Federation announced tough potential sanctions for basketball playerswho receive a call in national team of Ukraine.

If a player systematically (two or more times) does not arrive at the team’s location without a good reason for training camps and participation in international/European matches, the FBU is authorized to impose a ban on the basketball player for a period of one to two years. The ban applies to any type of basketball activity, in particular administrative and sports.

FBU President Mikhail Brodsky has previously repeatedly hinted in his statements about possible sanctions for basketball players. In particular, the functionary harshly targeted the players of the Ukrainian men’s team in the pre-qualification of the 2024 Olympic Games.

Recently, the coaching staff of the Ukrainian national basketball team announced the lineup for the EuroBasket 2025 qualifying matches with Slovenia and Portugal. The blue-yellows will begin preparations for the matches on February 17 in Riga, and on February 20 they will go to Slovenia, where they will play the first qualifying match.

Vitaly Stepanovsky’s team will open the qualifying tournament with a match against Slovenia on February 22. The blue-and-yellows will then play Portugal on February 25th. Nominally, the “home” match for Ukraine will take place in Riga. The third opponent of the Ukrainians in Group A is Israel.

European Championship qualification will take place during three windows: 19-27 February 2024, 18-26 November 2024 and 17-25 February 2025. Each team will play two games in each window. To qualify for the EuroBasket finals, the Ukrainian national team must take one of the first three places in the group.