(Reuters) – Russian teams have been suspended from playing in next season’s Euroleague basketball competitions, following the country’s invasion of Ukraine, organisers said on Thursday.
The invasion, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”, has led to logistical problems, Euroleague said.
“The decision is taken due to the increasing difficulties for teams to play games against teams from that country, which include air travel restrictions and prohibitions or other limitations to issuing visas to Russian residents,” the , Euroleague board said in a statement.
Euroleague Basketball runs the top two continental men’s club competitions, EuroLeague and EuroCup.
The organisation earlier suspended Russian teams from its championships and froze its sponsorship deal with Russia’s VTB Bank for the 2021-22 season in March.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis)
