With the start of the qualification for the 2019 World Basketball Championships, there is still no agreement in sight in the dispute between the EuroLeague and FIBA. This was confirmed by President Ingo Weiss of the German Basketball Association (DBB) to SID before the German opening match in Chemnitz against Georgia on Friday.
The problem is that the EuroLeague organisation ECA is “a purely business-oriented company that has so far shown no interest in finding a solution to the conflict”, said Weiss:”The last attempt has also recently failed despite a compromise proposal by FIBA. The ECA is not interested in the interests of national teams.”
The EuroLeague, the most important European Cup competition, has never stopped and has so far shown itself to be anything but willing to compromise. For example, the new national coach Henrik Rödl is missing from Georgia and on Monday in the second duel in Schwechat against Austria (8.20 pm in the LIVETICKER) five nominated players.
He is hoping that there will be some momentum on the second qualification window in February,”said Weiss:” We will keep trying, even though the situation is rather muddled at the moment and is not feasible from our side at the moment. It’s a huge conflict of interest.”
Of course, we would like our players from the EuroLeague to join us,”said Weiss:” But we are now playing with this very good team and I am also optimistic that we will play successfully. No new players will be added to the team before the Austria game, which makes no sense from a sporting point of view.”