Now the decision is final - Dubai basketball players will host Buducnost Voli in Zenica in the semifinals of the AdmiralBet ABA League, it was announced on the regional competition website.
The first match is on Thursday (18), the second is scheduled for May 25 in Podgorica, while the eventual final is scheduled for May 28 (20).
Due to the war in the Middle East, Dubai played its ABA League and Euroleague matches on a neutral field in Sarajevo. After reaching the finals of the regional competition, the club requested to play the matches in its "Coca-Cola Arena".
But then Buducnost made a statement. The Montenegrin club's board of directors announced last week, after reaching the semifinals, that after talking with the players and coaching staff, they had made a unanimous decision not to travel to Dubai.
Then, on Thursday, a session of the ABA League Presidency was held, at which the unanimous decision was made that Dubai would play on neutral ground until the end of the season.
It seemed like everything was over, but on Friday, Dubai threatened the ABA League with a lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. In a letter sent to the clubs and the league management by the general manager of the Emirati club, Dejan Kamenjašević, it is stated that the members of the ABA League Presidency, 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.
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.
And then the decision was withdrawn. On Saturday, a meeting of the presidency and the league leadership was held with Dubai, and then it was announced that a new meeting would be held today.
And finally - it was announced today that Dubai will play its semi-final matches on neutral ground.
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