Four nations quit joint bid for EuroBasket ‘15

PARIS - Reuters

This photo from the Eurobasket 2011 seventh-place playoff shows Slovenia’s Mirza Begic (L) and Serbia’s Boban Marjanovic jumping for a rebound. REUTERS photo

France, Germany, Italy and Croatia have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2015 European Championship citing what they called the European governing body’s “lack of professionalism”, the French federation said yesterday.

“France, Germany, Italy and Croatia withdraw with immediate effect from the bidding process for the EuroBasket 2015,” read a statement on the French federation’s website (www.ffbb.com).

“This decision was made unanimously by the four presidents of the bidding countries due to immense doubts regarding the professionalism and the lack of trust in the bidding process conducted by the European Basketball Federation, FIBA Europe.”

The withdrawal means Ukraine is the only bidding country left with FIBA Europe, who said they would issue a statement later in the day, due to announce the winner on Dec. 18.

“We rely on values such as good governance, compliance, and transparency and base our decisions and our actions on these values,” Jean-Pierre Siutat and Ingo Weiss, presidents of the French and German federations respectively, said in a statement.

“This is our responsibility towards our partners, sponsors and ourselves and with this decision we assume this responsibility.”

EuroBasket 2011 was hosted by Lithuania this summer and ended in a victory for Spain. The next edition of the biennial tournament will be held in Slovenia.