The International Basketball Federation has reinstated Russian and Belarusian players, coaches, referees and commissioners to international competition with immediate effect, following a meeting of its Executive Committee on Tuesday, September 1.
The ruling applies across both traditional basketball and 3x3 basketball, allowing individual competitors and technical officials from both nations to return to international events after an exclusion lasting more than four years.
However, national teams representing Russia and Belarus remain barred from collective international tournaments while basketball's global governing body evaluates their long-term status.
Scope of the FIBA reinstatement
The decision by the executive body aligns FIBA policy with updated recommendations issued by the International Olympic Committee, the global body that oversees the Olympic movement and provides guidance to international sports federations. FIBA agreed to support the IOC decision to lift recommended restrictions on Belarusian athletes and teams, as well as the temporary lifting of the suspension imposed on the Russian Olympic Committee on July 7.
Under the updated regulations, individual sportspeople, trainers, arbitrators, commissioners and other match officials are permitted to resume participation in international competition immediately. FIBA confirmed that the measure takes effect straight away, though it stops short of authorizing full squad participation.
Decisions on national teams and anti-doping
Collective team participation has not yet been granted. FIBA stated in an official announcement that specific decisions regarding national teams, alongside a dedicated anti-doping programme, will be determined during a meeting of the FIBA Central Board scheduled for December 2026.
Statements from federation officials indicate that the underlying objective of the phased return is to clear a pathway for Russian and Belarusian national teams to compete at the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Reaction from Russian sports leaders
Despite the partial relaxation of restrictions, the announcement generated little enthusiasm among sports administrators in Russia and Belarus, who had anticipated an immediate return for collective national teams.
Yevgeny Bogachev, the president of Russian basketball club Unics Kazan, expressed sharp irritation over the decision when speaking to sports news website championat.com. Bogachev said that returning on an individual basis rather than as a team was simply not appropriate, characterising the ruling as nonsense and confusion that suited no one.
FIBA originally suspended Russian and Belarusian teams, clubs and officials in February 2022 after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine. The military action drew global outrage and prompted numerous international sports organisations to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and teams from international competition.
