North Macedonia has been disqualified from the FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2021 qualifiers after positive COVID tests involving its players caused two matches to be postponed ©FIBA

North Macedonia has been disqualified from the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Women's EuroBasket 2021 competition after having to postpone two qualifying matches last year because of positive COVID-19 tests among its players.

FIBA Europe has announced North Macedonia forfeited its two Group I matches during the November window of play, against Latvia and Croatia, due to the positive tests. 

"As stipulated in the Competition Regulations of FIBA Europe, (North Macedonia) is subsequently disqualified from the remainder of the competition.

"All the results of the games played against North Macedonia are void and will be cancelled."

FIBA has required all personnel to be tested before going into bubbles for the Women's EuroBasket 2021 qualifiers ©FIBA
FIBA has required all personnel to be tested before going into bubbles for the Women's EuroBasket 2021 qualifiers ©FIBA

The third and last window in this round of FIBA Continental Cup Qualifiers is set to take place this month and will be held, as before, in biosecure bubbles.

Group I matches will resume involving just three teams - Latvia, Croatia and Germany.

FIBA hailed its delivery of a "successful" window of FIBA Continental Cup Qualifiers across four continents in November, amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 78 qualifying games, featuring 72 teams and 870 players from around the world, were played in bio-secure bubbles in 15 different cities across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.

These precautionary measures were put in place by the FIBA Medical Commission after consultation with the World Health Organization.

Only four games were postponed due to COVID-19 concerns - the other two games involved Hungary.