FIBA Europe Board concludes 2021 with meeting in Tbilisi

The FIBA Europe Board, term of office 2019-2023, convened in Tbilisi, Georgia and via video conference for its 16th meeting, on Friday, December 3, 2021.

FIΒΑ Europe President Turgay Demirel chaired the session, with FIBA President Hamane Niang, FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis and FIBA Executive Director Europe/FIBA Europe Secretary General Kamil Novak also in attendance.

This was the first time in history for Georgia to host such an important event and Mr. Demirel paid tribute to the efforts of the National Federation, under the current difficult circumstances.

The year’s final meeting had a full agenda, and the following key topics were discussed during the session:

Resolution of the EU Parliament on European Sport Model

The Board has welcomed the recent Resolution of the European Parliament on a European Sport Model to protect the key features of sport in Europe. The Board expressed its satisfaction that the Resolution places importance on national team competitions, in balance with club competitions, and on the role of values-based organizations like the International Federations.

The Board also saluted the fact that the European Parliament resolution draws attention to negative consequences which closed sport competitions have on organized sport in Europe, such as fairness and openness in sporting competitions, structures based on voluntary activity and social and educational function, which are all essential values of European Basketball as well that the Board of FIBA Europe has committed to defend.

Bidding process for FIBA EuroBasket 2025 and FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 

The Board was briefed about the ongoing bidding process for FIBA EuroBasket 2025.

The bid evaluation of the six bidders (Cyprus, Finland, Hungary, Latvia Russia, Ukraine) is already underway and will continue until the end of January 2022 before the Board votes on the hosts during its March meeting.

The bidding process for the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 will start in April 2022 with the hosts being awarded in Spring 2023.

Reports on Qualifiers and upcoming flagship events 

The Board received reports on the recent FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers, the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 Qualifiers, and the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Pre-Qualifiers, as well as on preparations for the upcoming flagship events, the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 (Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Italy) and the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2023 (Israel, Slovenia).

The Board members expressed their gratitude to all National Federations and all clubs who helped successfully deliver all Qualifiers in the November window, particularly under the current challenging circumstances.

Approval of Small Countries, remaining 2022 events and early designation for 2023 

The European Championship for Small Countries 2022 will be hosted in Ta Qali, Malta while Nicosia in Cyprus will organize the FIBA Women’s European Championship for Small Countries.

Both events will be played between June 28 and July 3, 2022.

The Board also approved all remaining European Youth Championships for next summer and an early designation of hosts for a number of 2023 events.

Budget, Youth Development Fund and Her World Her Rules

The 2022 budget was approved.

The Youth Development Fund and the “Her World, Her Rules” program for the years 2022-2023 were approved. The financial support for the two projects was increased to €4.5 million and €1 million respectively for the coming year.