MANILA (Philippines) – Outgoing FIBA President Hamane Niang has been reflecting on what proved to be one of the most difficult times ever for the sport but also one of the most rewarding.
FIBA caught up with Mr. Niang to get his view on some of the main challenges and successes during his tenure, which he began in 2019.
It must have been a very interesting time with such unprecedented challenges to deal with?
Yes, it’s been a privilege for me to serve this organization during one of the most difficult periods in the history of international basketball. We had to contend with various serious challenges, none more so than the COVID-19 pandemic and the outbreak of war in Ukraine – both horrific in their effects on human beings.
In such circumstances, FIBA reacted with speed and agility to the threat of the pandemic, and our members and partners have been a credit to the sport throughout. In early 2020, we took drastic measures when most of the world was only just beginning to understand the scale of the pandemic.
These pre-emptive measures and the adaptation of the international calendar were crucial not only in preventing the spread of infection and safeguarding all involved but also in then allowing us to quickly return to competitive sport. The use of ‘bubbles’ meant we were able to organize more than 90 events globally during this difficult period.
I believe that FIBA has emerged from the pandemic stronger and better equipped to deal with the future of the sport, and that is in no small part thanks to the hard work of our National Federations and our staff in what was a trying period.
How did FIBA perform in relation to its strategic priority to “Enlarge the FIBA Family”?
Over the last four years, FIBA has worked tirelessly to enlarge the basketball family. For the first time ever, the World Cup will take place in three countries in 2023 – the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia – with a combined population of more than half a billion people, taking the game into whole new territories.
The Road to FIBA’s pinnacle men’s event has been exciting, with numerous milestones along the way, most notably the spectacular FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Draw presented by Wanda, which took place in Manila.
In another first for our sport, the next men’s World Cup, Qatar 2027, will take the tournament into the Middle East in the capital city of Doha. The Qatar Basketball Federation successfully presented a bid which offers a unique compact geographical nature for our flagship event, with flexible tournament venue scheduling and a strong emphasis on sustainability.
The next Women’s World Cup, Germany 2026, demonstrates the continued popularity of our sport in Europe. The German Basketball Federation’s 10-year development plan for women’s basketball complies with FIBA’s own goals. The German Federation proved its hosting capabilities in 2022 when they co-hosted the FIBA EuroBasket 2022, with the Final Stage being played in Berlin in front of huge crowds.
The women’s game certainly seems to be in a better place than ever before?
We bore witness to the continued staggering growth of the women’s game at the Women’s World Cup 2022 in line with one of FIBA’s strategic priorities, ‘Women in Basketball’.
The event was full of iconic moments and a fairytale ending for one of the basketball greats in Lauren Jackson. Not only were there a record 145,519 overall fans in attendance at the tournament in Sydney, but also half a billion video views, a seven-fold increase on the 2018 edition that clearly demonstrates the great interest held in the women’s game around the globe.
There have also been tangible results in club competitions during the last cycle?
It has been an enormous achievement for FIBA to successfully collaborate with the NBA to introduce the Basketball Africa League in May 2021 – a competition opened to the best club sides in Africa, with teams taking part from all around the continent. It is an incredible accomplishment that this competition is now in its third year, taking place in a state-of-the-art venue in Kigali, Rwanda. It has also been very heartening for me to personally witness the growing basketball infrastructure in other parts of Africa, including Libreville, Gabon and Dakar, Senegal.
In 2023 we have also witnessed the completion of the inaugural FIBA West Asia League (WASL), a competition for club sides from across the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia and the Gulf States – from India to Kazakhstan, and from Lebanon to Kuwait – with the opportunity to qualify for the FIBA Asia Champions Cup and then the FIBA Intercontinental Cup notable incentives.
The competitions that were launched in the previous cycle, notably the BCL and the BCL Americas, have now become established, high level basketball products that serve the clubs and leagues of their continents in an excellent way. And the continuous upgrade of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, with its expansion first to Africa and now to Asia through the long-term agreement with Singapore, shows that our global plan is on an excellent path of growth.
You must also be happy with the development of 3×3?
The growth in 3×3 in the last half-decade has been spectacular. Having only been formally introduced at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, within a decade it became an official Olympic sport, making its bow at Tokyo 2020. 3×3 has been a great success with fans and players, both in the men’s, women’s and wheelchair iterations of the sport. It also meant that, for the first time, there were 12 medals to claim for the basketball family at the Olympic Games.
The FIBA 3×3 World Tour and 3×3 Women’s Series also continues to grow, with more events being announced every season. The Women’s Series is now up to an impressive 23 events for the current season, with the eventual winners to receive over USD 1 million in prize money, a first for the series.
Do you have any further thoughts as you step down as FIBA President?
I would like to thank all our National Federation members for their support and their work during my cycle as FIBA President. The commitment and determination that I have witnessed is remarkable and is of the utmost importance to FIBA.
And of course, I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of all the National Federations and FIBA’s staff, who make the day-to-day running of operations around the world a reality and help in every way to further develop our sport.
Together, we have pushed basketball to new heights and expanded its reach around the globe, helping to spread our wonderful game to more and more people who love the sport.
FIBA
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