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Expulsion of Russian basketball clubs from Euroleague is ‘historical injustice’ — official

Goran Sasic emphasized that politics should not be mixed with sports

MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. An imposed ban on the participation of Russian basketball clubs from the Euroleague competitions is "historical injustice," Executive Director of the Euroleague Coaches Council Goran Sasic told TASS on Wednesday.

"As a Serb, I am still convinced that the expulsion of Russian clubs is a historical injustice. We in Serbia feel this very well, because we were also under sanctions in sports," he said in an interview with TASS.

"Politics should not be mixed with sports," he continued. "People forget that the Olympic Charter says this. And sports don't matter. FIFA, UEFA, Euroleague all say that politics should not interfere in sports."

"We see how FIFA reacts when politics starts to interfere - they simply suspend national federations," Sasic added.

On February 28, 2022, the administration of EuroLeague Basketball temporarily suspended all Russian basketball clubs from their further participation in European tournaments citing Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

On March 22, 2022, the Executive Board of Euroleague Basketball ruled to bar all Russian professional basketball clubs from the 2021/2022 season and to annul all of their previous results.

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