By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The excitement for the FIBA 2027 World Cup Qualifiers officially begins on Thursday, with the first matches.
Turkey will host Bosnia and Herzegovina in Istanbul for their opening Group C match.
Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) President Hidayet Turkoglu made statements to the press ahead of this game:
“This time we are here for a different excitement. As you know, the success achieved by the 12 Giants after many years has once again brought the love for basketball in our country to its peak. We feel lucky and proud to be a part of this great achievement. Once again, I want to thank our coach and athletes for the immense pride they have given us.”
Turkey recently won silver at the European Championship and enters the first qualification matches weakened due to injuries, as well as issues related to the EuroLeague.
“We are starting another important journey for our National Team and our country. As management, we have always stood behind our team from the very beginning, and we will continue to do so. Yes, we may have some absences and injuries, but this situation will also be a good opportunity for some of our other players. I hope they will achieve successes that will once again make our country proud. We will continue to support them. I hope we achieve good results in both matches during this window and continue our upward trajectory.”
As every year, the EuroLeague schedule creates problems for national teams, as they cannot count on their best players. Turkoglu criticized this once again.
“Of course, as we always say, EuroLeague’s… Well, I don’t want to speak too harshly. I’ve made such mistakes before, so I don’t want to do it again. Frankly, I don’t want to unnecessarily elevate people who are not valuable. We always try to explain how important the NBA Europe project is at this stage. EuroLeague’s meaningless ego inevitably harms European basketball.”
The NBA Europe project is getting closer, and the former basketball player hopes that their arrival will solve the problems currently facing basketball.
“The intense schedule sometimes causes some of our athletes to be away from the National Team. Hopefully, in the future, a strong NBA Europe structure will solve all these problems. Right now, we are looking ahead, we have two matches in front of us. We are all ready to qualify for the 2027 World Cup. As I said, we have absences, but this will be an important opportunity for our other players. Hopefully, we will win tomorrow and start the qualifiers with a victory.”