The case has been causing a stir for a few days, when we learned that negotiations were underway between the leader of the French team and the Russian club Zénith Saint-Petersburg. You should know that before EuroBasket 2022, a charter had been established in which it was indicated that any player who would evolve for a Russian club would become de facto ineligible for a selection in Blue, geopolitical context obliges. Thomas Heurtel signed this charter but might therefore join Russia soon… with the consequences that would ensue.
The debate has been raging for a few days, and it is centered around one question: was the French Basketball Federation aware of Thomas Heurtel’s projects despite his signature of this famous charter? Did the institution voluntarily turn a blind eye for a few weeks, grumbling discreet “we’ll see”, just to take advantage of a player who was one of those who carried the Blues to Germany? Or, on the contrary, had the former leader of Barca, Real or ASVEL in particular prepared “his coup” to have the butter, the money for the butter and the EuroBasket? Not necessarily the most important dash on the list, but what we know above all today is that the n°4 of EDF would have signed for one year with the Russian club Zénith St-Petersburg, and that such a signature would amount neither more nor less to sitting on the sworn statement signed between the players and the Fed.
In any case, this is what the FFBB suggested this morning, via an official press release :
Difficult to make more clear. In two words ? No prior arrangement between the two parties, and the Fed therefore affirms that it has learned the news just like us.
If Thomas Heurtel actually came to play for the Russian club? It would therefore be set aside for the next events of the French team, including the World Cup in 2023 and, above all, the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. Leaving aside the sporting part which leads us to think that the ‘EDF would lose a major player there because of his experience and his talent, it’s more the way that raises questions, and a communication that seems to have been – at best – blurred between the player and his federation.
As a reminder, March 2, 2022 then August 1st, the FFBB had announced its support for Ukraine in the context of the conflict between it and Russia, which had initially brought its share of encouragement. Except that today, by mixing sports business and behind-the-scenes negotiations, the mustard might quickly rise in the face of each side.
We are now waiting for the next episode of the conflict, but the carrots seem cooked for the player if he decides to officially put on the Zenith shorts. Have we seen Thomas Heurtel’s last match with the French team for a long time (if not definitively), on September 18 once morest Spain? The trend is in this direction.
