BERLIN (Germany) - FIBA Europe President Turgay Demirel stated that FIBA EuroBasket 2022 reached new heights in terms of parity and competitiveness, during the customary tournament recap press conference in Berlin on Sunday.

Speaking to the accredited media at the big event, alongside FIBA Executive Director Europe Kamil Novak and German Basketball Federation President Ingo Weiss, Mr. Demirel underscored the fact that the average winning margin in the knock-out phase (up until the Semi-Finals) was only 7.8 points, the third lowest all-time after EuroBasket 2003 and EuroBasket 1937.

"This shows the strength of European basketball and definitely, as we always say, EuroBasket is the top national team competition in the world," the FIBA Europe President said.

"[The level of competition showed that] every nation of the 24 has very good players and can be competitive against other teams and, I have to say, not only on the level of players but also the level of coaches was very high, their preparation for each game contributed to the same degree."

Mr. Demirel thanked the four host federations, the volunteers, the local organizing committees, and FIBA EuroBasket 2022 ambassador Dirk Nowitzki for contributing to a tournament that met fans’ expectations and added that the format change introduced in 2015, with four different hosting countries, proved to be a success on multiple levels.

"In terms of attendance, this was the second-most successful event in European Basketball history and very close to the first one according to total tickets sold. That was EuroBasket 2015, which however included the arena in Lille that had a capacity of capacity of 25,000," Mr. Demirel said.

Mr. Novak pointed out that while the decision to postpone the EuroBasket by one year presented logistical issues for FIBA Europe and for the four hosts, each of the hosts managed to deliver above and beyond expectations thanks to the support of local authorities organizers.

"The biggest legacy of this EuroBasket is the new arena in Tbilisi, which was concluded in spite of the pandemic postponing its construction," Mr. Novak said.

"This EuroBasket was very special in the group phase with the modern arenas in Cologne, Prague and Tbilisi and the historical arena in Milan, which made it very special for the spectators. The fan experience was enhanced by the hospitality of the beautiful host cities."

Mr. Novak also highlighted the social aspect of EuroBasket in each host city and focused on the strategy employed by the organizers in putting together their hard-working teams of volunteers, involving as many different age groups as possible so there were young people working alongside people in retirement age.

FIBA