The French Federation announced on Monday that French basketball players engaged or who will engage for a Russian or Belarusian club will no longer be called in Blue until the end of the war in Ukraine.
A decision taken following the signing of international tricolor Livio Jean-Charles at CSKA Moscow and Louis Labeyrie at Kazan who are therefore affected by this measure.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine on February 24, the International Basketball Federation has excluded Russia and Belarus from all its competitions, selections or clubs. This also concerns the Euroleague de Basketball, the body that manages the Euroleague (equivalent to the Champions League in Basketball and the Eurocoupe (equivalent to the Europa League)
The France team could lose big
The leader of the Blues and Olympic vice-champion in Tokyo last summer, Thomas Heurtel, whose signing at Zenith is imminent, could also be affected by this measure. A real headache ahead for the coach of the Blues, Vincent Collet.