Paris (AFP)

The hours of discussion in the morning were not enough: the French Basketball Federation (FFBB) was forced by the players from Bourges and Asvel to cancel the final of the Coupe de France, which should have been held on Friday evening in Bercy.

"The game will not be played tonight. I regret that decision. It is, I think, a decision of the players of both teams."

In a few words spoken during a press briefing in Bercy early Friday afternoon, the President of the French Basketball Federation Jean-Pierre Siutat summed up, with a certain emotion in his voice, an intense morning of negotiations between the clubs, the Federation and Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu, who was to attend the match in the evening.

"I wanted to thank the Minister of Sports for coming this morning to convey a very positive message on the strong will of the government, the Federation, the Leagues and the clubs, to resume the game and the competition," he said. he adds.

A message remained vain with the players of the two finalist teams.

The two clubs must publish a joint statement during the afternoon.

- Three positive cases -

It all started with the PCR tests carried out before the final in Bercy, for the Berruyères and Lyonnais, as stipulated in the health protocol.

Three positive cases are detected for the Tango and one for the Asvel.

In this situation, the FFBB plans to bring together a federal health group which must decide on the holding of the meeting.

A postponement is not automatic.

"The Minister said that this protocol is a rule which allows to promote the game and not on the contrary something which prevents it", underlined the president Siutat.

Thursday at the end of the afternoon, the FFBB decided to keep the match on Friday evening (8:30 p.m.).

But strong reservations were expressed by the players on the fact of playing this match, which was supposed to mark the return of French women's basketball after more than six months of hiatus due to Covid-19.

A fortiori, it was also the first event organized with the public in Bercy, since the confinement of mid-March.

- Risk of financial sanctions -

"It's very difficult what was decided today. I obviously respect the fear that the players may have about the game. But that's going to be that every day. I have done everything to get this season started again. I do not know, sincerely, if this season will restart ", regretted the president of the Federation, evoking" a real shock ".

The cancellation of the meeting, where more than 2,500 spectators (on a gauge of 5,000 far from the possible 15,000 at Bercy) were expected, represents a "dry" cost for the Federation: 300,000 euros according to Jean-Pierre Siutat, "without the repercussions indirect ".

In a statement, the Federation referred to a "forfeit of the two teams" and according to its regulations in force, "in the event of a forfeit of a team, during a Championship, Challenge, Cup, Tournament, Selection, the club defaulting is exposed to the reimbursement of various organizational costs incurred unnecessarily by a third party organizer and to a financial penalty against him pronounced by the Federal Competitions Commission ".

This decision comes one week before the resumption of the Women's League.

"I hope that we will be able to start. At some point we will have to decide something," explained Jean-Pierre Siutat.

"You have to live with it certainly until the Olympic Games. That means you have to know how to take a minimum of risks," he concluded.

© 2020 AFP