FIBA Executive Committee meeting held at NBA All-Star weekend

FIBA’s Executive Committee has held its second meeting of the current working cycle at the All-Star 2024 weekend, strengthening its unique collaboration with the NBA.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver opened the meeting and emphasized the close collaboration that the two organizations hold, built over years of collaborative efforts on various projects and initiatives which had paved the way for the growth of basketball.

During the meeting, USA Basketball received a special commemorative gift to recognize the Federation’s 50th anniversary. FIBA President Sheikh Saud Ali Al Thani presented the gift to Jim Tooley, USA Basketball Chief Executive Officer and FIBA Competitions Commission Men’s National Teams Deputy Chair.

The following key topics were discussed during the meeting:

Reports were received on the preparations for the Olympic Basketball Tournaments for both men and women, to be held in Lille (Group Phase) and Paris (Final Phase) from July 26 to August 11.

The FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2024 were successfully held recently in Belgium, Brazil, China, and Hungary. The three days of competition witnessed record crowds and exciting match-ups, with twelve teams securing their place in the upcoming Olympic Games.

The FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2024 will be played from July 2 to 7 in Riga, Valencia, Piraeus, and San Juan. The draw for both Olympic Basketball Tournaments will take place on March 19 at FIBA’s headquarters in Switzerland.

The Executive Committee received reports on the preparations for next year’s Continental Cups, to be played across the four regions. Window 1 of the Continental Cup 2025 Qualifiers commences on February 19 and runs through to February 27. The FIBA AfroBasket 2025 Qualifiers will see the participation of 20 national teams, while the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 Qualifiers will feature 16 teams from across the region. Twenty-four national teams will battle it out at FIBA Asia Cup 2025 Qualifiers, and the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers will see 32 teams vying for a spot in the showcase event.

Preparations are underway for the newly implemented Pre-Qualifying Tournaments for FIBA’s flagship women’s event. The FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Pre-Qualifying Tournaments will take place in August 2024 and will include four teams not qualified from FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments to Paris 2024 plus 12 teams from FIBA Women’s Continental Cups 2023, with a maximum of 4 teams per region. For more information on this, click here.

The Executive Committee heard a comprehensive recap of the recent FIBA 3×3 World Tour season of 2023 which saw 18 stops covering the entire world, finishing in December with a spectacular World Tour Final in Jeddah. A report was also received on the upcoming 3×3 2024 season, which will also include 3×3’s return to the Olympic Games in July.

Updates were received on FIBA’s club competitions, including the upcoming fourth season of the Basketball Africa League which tips off on March 9, the current Basketball Champions League, currently in the middle of its Round of 16, and Basketball Champions League Americas seasons, along with the West Asia Super League current season and the East Asia Super League, which will start its Final Four shortly.

The Executive Committee received a season recap report of the successfully eFIBA Season 2, which cumulated in the World Finals being played at a first-ever eFIBA Lan event at the DreamHack Winter 2023 in Sweden.

A report was received on one of FIBA’s newest initiatives, the FIBA Academy. The FIBA Academy aims to provide international programs to the wider basketball community to further develop skills and competencies of participating individuals through various learning and immersive experiences in their respective fields. This platform will be made available to executives of basketball organizations including National Federations, national leagues and professional clubs, as well as players, coaches and officials.

The FIBA Academy also aims to provide National Federations with a comprehensive catalogue of self-paced online courses to share knowledge on a variety of targeted topics in several fields and is part of FIBA’s strategic priority, to Empower National Federations.