With the Olympics in full swing, you can be forgiven for not paying close attention to the domestic side of things but at the moment, Euroleague Basketball is not having a great week.
Greek league side AEK Athens have today withdrawn from the EuroCup competition amid tremendous pressure from the federation to leave or face a possible national team ban that FIBA originally warned opposing clubs that joined the EuroCup.
Via AEK Athens release:
The club won’t take part in the ECA Cup next season because of the exacerbates and turbulent atmosphere in European basketball due to the FIBA-EuroLeague war.
AEK Athens doesn’t want to jeopardize the future of the Greek National Team and won’t accept any kind of pressure.
AEK calls FIBA and EuroLeague to find a common solution about the cups in Europe.
And it seems that Polish giants Stelmet Zielona Gora will join AEK Athens in leaving the EuroCup and accept the invitation to play in the FIBA Basketball Champions League, which begins in late-September.
“It seems that we will play in Champions League” said the president of Stelmet Zielona Gora Janusz Jasinski, as reported by RZG, a Polish media outlet.
