The FIBA Europe Board meeting was held online on September 24. At the meeting, among other issues, a very interesting decision was made for us – The remaining matches of the Eurobasket 2022 qualifying round will be held through the “bubble” system. This term was coined after the events of the NBA season in basketball, when the regular championship continued in one space, in particular at Disney World in Orlando, due to a pandemic. The final calendar of when and in which country will be held group games, will be announced by FIBA after the October 8 board meeting.
Now more specifically: Due to the pandemic, the European basketball organization has decided to hold four matches in each group of the Eurobasket 2022 qualifying round in one city. There are two windows left in the qualifying round of Eurobasket 2022: in November and February. Board member, Secretary General of the Georgian Basketball Federation Giorgi Qartvelishvili has joined FIBA with a proposal to hold the qualifying round windows through the “bubble” system, which was officially accepted by the FIBA Europe Board on September 24. Accordingly, the Georgian national team will have meetings with Finland and Switzerland in one country in the November window – All four national teams of our group (Georgia, Switzerland, Serbia, Finland) will gather in one city and will hold two-two matches in a short time.
Like us, one host will be selected from the other eight groups to receive the November Bubble. Giorgi Qartvelishvili, Secretary General of the Georgian Basketball Federation, explains the criteria for selecting the host:
“According to the decision of the FIBA Europe Board, out of the four teams participating in the group, preference will be given to the country that has to play two matches at home during the playing window. I think it is a fair decision. In case all members of any group refuse to host, then the host of another group will have the opportunity to invite that group in their country. However, I do not think anyone will refuse to accept “Bubble” in their own arena, as the demand is great… Switzerland has to play two home matches in November in our group, so it is the main contender to host “bublle”. To my knowledge, the Swiss will not refuse. As for the February window, Georgia will be given an advantage, because our team will have two home matches. We are ready to host the February “bubble”, which is really good news for our country.
It would have been even more enjoyable to have fans on the stands. However, it should be noted here – the attendance of fans at the games depends on the epidemiological situation and state regulations in any country (which will host “Bubble”). For example – in Switzerland today it is allowed to fill the hall by 2/3. It is too early to talk about the regulations we will have in Georgia in February. Let’s hope that the situation will be normalized and Georgian fans will be able to watch four high-quality matches from the stands”.
