JBF covers 50% of Palestinian team’s costs ahead of Jordan-hosted qualifiers

AMMAN — The Jordan Basketball Federation has covered half the cost of the Palestinian national team’s participation in the final window of the 2021 Asia Cup qualifiers, set to take place in the Kingdom between June 12 and June 14. اضافة اعلان

“As part of our role in supporting our Palestinian brethren, ensuring their presence at the Asian qualifiers, and preserving their right to play, in addition to accounting for the difficult circumstances they have recently experienced, we have decided to bear 50 percent of the cost of hosting the Palestinian team in Jordan,” JBF President Mohamed Alayyan told Jordan News. 

Commenting on changes to the first-division national team, Alayyan said he had recently met with the players, adding: “There is new blood on the team and I am optimistic about its future, especially since the average age is 26 years.”

The JBF president said it might be “too early” to discuss increasing the number of Premier League teams ahead of next season, and explained that such a decision depends on the availability of the budget allocated by the Jordan Olympic Committee.

The national squad has yet to seal their sport in the Asia cup finals, to be hosted in Indonesia between August 17 and August 29, as they still have to play four matches — two against Palestine, one against Sri Lanka and another against Kazakhstan.

The team can only secure their ticket to Indonesia if they win against Palestine and Kazakhstan. 

Jordan will kick off its run in the qualifiers with a game against Palestine on June 12 (7pm), before facing Kazakhstan on June 13 (7pm), and Palestine, again, on June 14.

Kazakhstan is currently in the lead of Group F (9pts.) as a result of four wins and a single loss. The current runner up is Palestine (6pts.) with two wins and two losses under their belt. Sri Lanka is in third (5pts.) with five losses, while Jordan is in fourth place having secured two wins.

The winner and runner up in each of the six groups will directly qualify to the Asia Cup, for a total of 12 teams. The six teams that occupy third place by the end of the qualifiers will face off in single-stage segmented playoffs to decide on the four teams that will compete in the Asia Cup finals.

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