Valencia Basket to appeal EuroLeague decision regarding Crvena Zvezda / News - Basketnews.com

Valencia Basket will appeal the EuroLeague's decision to deny their request to investigate the matter of Nikola Topic's registration for the game against Crvena Zvezda. The club says it was impossible for them to know about the breach of the rules since the ABA League itself found out about it and made a decision on Monday.

Credit: Valencia Basket/Miguel Angel Polo Credit Valencia Basket/Miguel Angel Polo

Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade got into legal trouble again this week when the ABA League announced sanctions on the club's former player Nikola Topic. The matter has now been escalated in the EuroLeague as well.

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The ABA League deadline for transferring between teams was on January 4th. At 23:00 local time on January 6th, FMP Beograd announced that the youngster has become a member of the club. Hours earlier on that same day, Topic was registered for Crvena Zvezda's match against Valencia Basket.

To play in the ABA League, the 17-year-old prospect had to be registered as part of FMP Beograd on January 4th at the latest. Two days later, he was on the 12-man roster for another team in the EuroLeague.

Knowing this, the ABA League proceeded to cancel the player's registration on Monday and ultimately banned him from appearing on the court for any team in the competition this season for playing in two different teams at the same, albeit in different competitions.

Having found out about this, Valencia Basket submitted a written notice to the EuroLeague but it was quickly denied because it was submitted when more than 48 hours had passed after the match.

The Spanish club will appeal the decision and has released the following statement:

KK FMP announces the incorporation of Topic at 11 pm after the match between Valencia Basket and Crvena Zvezda, something that is normal practice. It is not until Monday that the Club discovers that the internal regulations of the Adriatic League prevent these movements beyond January 4, for which reason it immediately presents the allegations to the competition, considering that the transfer had to have been made that day and not after, and should have been deliberately hidden so that the player could be available in case of need in our game.

We would also like to remind you that EuroLeague regulations require Clubs to notify about player transfers or assignments on the same day they occur, something that was not done in this case. The EuroLeague's requirement to respond within the 48-hour period from the start of the match leaves the Club in a clear defenselessness situation since it was not possible to detect the irregularity in said document, and it cannot be claimed that a Spanish Club is aware of the Adriatic League internal regulations, when not even the EuroLeague itself was. The Club, considering that it was impossible to meet that deadline in this case, will appeal the decision.

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