Jordan forfeits basketball game vs. Israel over ‘player safety’

Fearing backlash if its players competed against Israel, Jordan said it forfeited to protect team members from “bullying and harassment.”

By World Israel News Staff

The Jordanian national basketball team chose to forfeit a scheduled game against Israel on Sunday, rather than play the Jewish State’s team in the Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) Under-19 Basketball World Cup, held in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Jordan’s basketball federation announced that it would refuse to play the Israeli national team, with the move earning Israel an automatic 20-0 technical victory.

“We made the appropriate decision not to play against Israel in order to protect the interests of our players,” the President of the Jordanian Basketball Federation, Ahmad Al-Hanandeh, told the Jordanian Arabic-language outlet Al-Mamlaka.

Notably, Al-Hanandeh hinted that the Jordanian team forfeited due to concerns that its players would be threatened for competing against the Israeli team.

“We wanted to avoid exposing the players to any situation that could open the door to bullying, harassment, or psychological pressure that might affect their performance or safety,” he added.

He acknowledged that forfeiting a match due to the country of the opponent was against FIBA rules, but said he hoped that the international basketball association “will view our decision from the right perspective and that there won’t be significant consequences for the federation or the players.”

Chairman of the Israeli Basketball Association Amos Frishman told the Hebrew-language outlet Ynet that he “had hoped the game would take place, especially given the peace between the two countries. But I can also, to some extent, understand the Jordanians — they were under immense pressure.”

In a later public statement, Frishman stressed that “sports is a bridge between peoples and cultures and not a political arena,” adding that he hoped “in the future, there will be no doubt about holding these games.”

In a brief statement, FIBA confirmed that Jordan had informed the organization of its refusal to play against Israel.

The statement did not include a condemnation of the move, nor details regarding potential consequences for the Jordanian team in future competitions.