Dubai won't go to Sarajevo for the Buducnost match: We play at home, or we go to Lausanne!

The decision by the ABA League management that Dubai basketball players cannot play the final season in their "Coca-Cola Arena" has caused a storm of reactions in the United Arab Emirates, and the club has threatened to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

Dubai announced that it was "taken aback and deeply disappointed" by the decision of the ABA League Presidency that the semi-finals and eventual final must be played on neutral ground, despite, as they claim, all the security guarantees provided and prior communication with the competition leaders.

Buducnost refused to travel to Dubai yesterday due to the unstable security situation, after which the ABA League management decided that the guest from the Emirates must be the host on neutral ground, as it has been in every match in the Euroleague and regional competition since the beginning of May.

The first semi-final match of the ABA League between Dubai and Buducnost is scheduled to be played on May 20th, but where?

The host claims - exclusively at the "Coca-Cola Arena" in Dubai.

The letter sent by the Emirates club's general manager Dejan Kamenjašević to the clubs and league management states that representatives of Buducnost and Partizan, Dragan Bokan and Ostoja Mijailović, had a conflict of interest because they participated in making a decision that directly affects the playoffs.

Dubai claims that they informed the ABA League in early May that they wanted to play the finals at home, and that they had provided guarantees from UAE state institutions, including confirmation from the Dubai Sports Council that there were no security obstacles to organizing the matches.

The club also states that it has already begun organizing matches and the team's return to Dubai, after, as they claim, no potential rivals have submitted official objections to playing in the Emirates.

"This decision directly violates the regularity of the competition and deprives us of home field advantage in the most important part of the season," they said from Dubai.

The club requested that the ABA League withdraw or suspend the decision within the next 24 hours, warning that otherwise the case would end up before the court in Lausanne.