The Board of FIBA Europe has approved the Celje Arena l in Celje and Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana as the two alternative First Round venues for EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia.

The two venues will replace Novo Mesto and Ptuj sports halls which withdrew from hosting the tournament.

In its extraordinary session in Munich on Sunday, the Board also reiterated its trust in the EuroBasket 2013 Local Organising Committee and the Slovenian Basketball Federation to deliver a top notch event in terms of organisation next summer.

The Slovenian organisers have confirmed a final written agreement with all cities involved in the event as well as a governmental financial guarantee, on the basis of which they expressed their confidence that all the necessary renovation works will be delivered to bring the venues up to the EuroBasket standard required.

The only open issue is an outstanding payment to FIBA Europe Properties as part of the hosting agreement, which is expected to be sorted out within the next few days.

“Our priority is to make absolutely certain that the event is delivered at the highest possible quality. We would like to believe that all contractual agreements regarding EuroBasket will be honoured by all sides,” FIBA Europe President Olafur Rafnsson summed up the Board’s decisions.

The other two EuroBasket 2013 First Round venues are Koper and Jesenice. The Second and Final Rounds will be played in Ljubljana’s Stozice Arena.

EuroBasket 2013 is scheduled from 4-22 September, 2013.