Basketball Eire mentioned it had “already skilled a 14-year absence from worldwide basketball within the latest previous” and any determination to not fulfil the fixtures with Israel could be “extraordinarily damaging to Irish basketball and the ladies’s recreation”.
Sanctions may have included an 80,000 euros (£69,000) high quality if Eire boycotted the primary fixture with Israel, which is scheduled for 18 November.
Failure to play the return fixture would have led to an extra high quality of 100,000 euros (£86,000) and elimination from qualifying for 2027 and 2029 EuroBasket campaigns.
Eire may have withdrawn earlier than qualification began and been handed a 30,000 euros high quality (£26,000), however FIBA Europe guidelines left the door open for additional sanctions.
Eire may even face Luxembourg and Bosnia-Herzegovina in Group A.
It isn’t the primary time Eire have been drawn to face Israel for the reason that ongoing battle in Gaza began in October 2023.
Eire refused to shake palms with Israel and stood along with the courtroom for the nationwide anthems in a 2025 EuroBasket qualifier in February 2024.
When Irish gamers raised issues earlier than that qualifier, Israel participant Dor Saar mentioned the Eire staff was “fairly antisemitic”.
Israel coach Sharon Drucker additionally mentioned Eire “didn’t respect” what the sport symbolises, whereas Basketball Eire mentioned Saar’s feedback have been “inflammatory and wholly inaccurate”, and reported the remarks to European basketball’s governing physique Fiba Europe.
Eire have been warned by Fiba for his or her protest, and gamers stood for the anthems on courtroom and shook palms with Israel’s gamers in a second EuroBasket qualifier between the perimeters in Riga in November.
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