ABA League director confirms talks with Dubai / News - Basketnews.com

ABA League's director confirmed that talks have been held with representatives from Dubai and claimed that there is a desire for a Dubai club to play in the ABA League.

Credit: EuroLeague Credit EuroLeague

A report came out on Tuesday claiming that a new team is being formed in Dubai that would participate in the ABA League and in the EuroLeague.

Encestando claimed that the move is being discussed for the new organization to join the league in the upcoming future. Talks about it have been going on since the start of the 2022-23 season.

Last year, the EuroLeague even held a meeting in Dubai. This year, the rumors are starting to spread again, with a supposed proposal being that the new team would play in the ABA League alongside the EuroLeague.

Asked about it, the ABA League director, Milija Vojinovic, did not deny it.

"Dubai has a desire to play in the ABA League. We have already talked, we have agreed on some things. We will continue to talk," he told Bojan Brezovac from Mozzart Sport.

The EuroLeague hasn't responded to the report yet.

However, BC Wolves owner Gediminas Ziemelis, who has connections in Dubai, said that there's still a lot of work left to see the Dubai club in the Adriatic League.

"Dubai team in the Adriatic League. Important news, and as I know some details, I would like to comment. A team from another league (the Adriatic one) cannot play in the third country (in this case UAE, Dubai) in an official competition until the approval of the Federation of that country (UAE in this case).

I know that the UAE Basketball Federation has not granted such approval and, to my knowledge, is surprised by such announcements. On top of that, [the ABA League] would need to obtain approval from all UAE league teams, of which there are seven.

So far, all teams in the UAE league are state-owned, which makes the situation even more complicated. It does not matter that a team can offer money, and Russians or Serbians want to play there.

Only exhibition matches can be held, not official competitions. Just like the Champions League in football does not allow to play an official Champions League match in Saudi Arabia (only the other way around)," Ziemelis wrote in a post on Facebook.

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