FIBA Prolonged The Isolation Of Belarusian Basketball Players
- 7.12.2025, 16:34
International tournaments remain closed to the regime's athletes.
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has extended the suspension of national teams and clubs from Belarus and Russia from competitions under its auspices, the press service of the organization reported.
The decision was taken on December 5 at the meeting of the FIBA Central Council in the Swiss commune of Mi.
The suspension will last until the meeting of the FIBA Executive Committee, scheduled for mid-February 2026.
"The Central Council also confirmed that, when the situation allows, FIBA will be ready to take extraordinary measures to ensure the participation of players from both federations in the 2028 Olympic Games, given the impossibility of participating in the major FIBA tournaments of 2026 and 2027, where qualification is already underway," the statement reads.
Sanctions against Belarusian and Russian basketball have been extended several times after Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. The previous time it happened on May 15, 2025.
May 19, 2023 it became known that the Belarusian and Russian clubs will not be able to apply to participate in international tournaments under the auspices of the European branch of FIBA Europe.
April 21, it was reported that the executive committee of FIBA Europe unanimously decided not to allow the men's national teams of Belarus and Russia to qualify for Eurobasket-2025.
On March 1, 2022, four Belarusian clubs - men's Tsmoki (Minsk) and Borisfen (Mogilev), women's Horizon (Minsk) and Olimpia (Grodno) - were excluded from competing in European club leagues.
On May 18 of the same year, the FIBA executive committee banned its competitions on the territory of Belarus and Russia, and also excluded the teams of these countries from their tournaments. The Belarusian teams were suspended from participation in the qualifying matches of the men's World Cup-2023, women's World Cup-2022, U-17 World Cup, as well as men's and women's 3x3 tournaments.
On February 28, 2022, four days after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army, the International Olympic Committee called on international sports federations not to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete. This recommendation was immediately and massively implemented.
On March 28, 2023, following the meeting of the Executive Committee in Lausanne (Switzerland), the IOC issued a statement recommending the international sports federations to allow Belarusians and Russians to participate in international competitions in a neutral status. A number of federations implemented the recommendation, thanks to which a limited number of Belarusians participated in the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The IOC recommendation does not apply to team sports, as "teams of athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports are not considered."
The chairman of the Belarusian Basketball Federation since 2014 is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Maksim Ryzhenkov.
Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL97116022020000000216711123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims
You can contact us by the e-mail [email protected]
