FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments moved to late June, early July 2021

Jamal Murray leaves the Canadian men's basketball team practice at the OVO Athletic Centre in Toronto. (Cole Burston/CP)

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has announced an adjusted schedule for the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in light of the Tokyo Olympics being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the new Olympic dates set for July 23 to August 8, 2021, FIBA says the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments will now be held “in the period between June 22 and July 4, 2021 (exact dates pending IOC approval).”

The tournaments were originally slated for this June 23-28, with one of the four to be held in Victoria, B.C. Canada Basketball offered the following statement regarding Victoria’s potential to host the tournament given the change of date:

“Canada Basketball and Friends of Victoria Basketball remain committed to hosting the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Victoria,” the organization told Sportsnet.

While the Canadian men’s team needs to win its OQT to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, the women’s squad clinched their Olympic berth in February.

FIBA also announced further changes for the global calendar:

On the men’s side, the FIBA EuroBasket 2021 and AmeriCup 2021 competitions have been rescheduled to September 1-18, 2022. As well, “to limit workload for players and maximize the opportunities within the calendar, national teams participating in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers will play the two games originally scheduled for September 2022 at the end of August 2022, during the preparation phase of the FIBA EuroBasket and FIBA AmeriCup,” the federation’s statement read.

“All other remaining dates of Qualifiers for the Continental Cups 2021 and for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 remain unchanged.”

Furthermore, FIBA Afrobasket 2021 and the Asia Cup 2021 have been rescheduled within August 2021 to avoid overlapping with the Tokyo Olympics.

On the women’s side, the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2021 has been moved to June 20–27, 2021, in line with the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2021 (June 17–27, 2021).

“The four Women’s Continental Cups will qualify a total of 16 teams that will compete in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournaments in February 2022,” FIBA announced. “The dates of all other FIBA Senior Tournaments at world and continental level, as well as their Qualifiers, for the period 2020–2023 remain without change.”

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