MUNICH - The Board of FIBA Europe met in Malta on Friday and, among others, debated the future of the European club competitions.

FIBA Europe reaffirmed its support for the reorganisation of all club competitions, including regional leagues, across the continent.

FIBA Europe together with FIBA are currently working on plans to remodel the European club competitions landscape and they are in dialogue with the clubs, fans, sponsors, broadcasters and other stakeholders about the future of basketball in Europe.

FIBA Europe and FIBA believe that those reforms are essential in order to ensure that basketball remains relevant on the old continent and grows again, so that domestic championships and basketball clubs are provided with a sound business model and they enjoy greater participation in future decision-making processes within the FIBA structure.

Those reforms are also fundamental in order to ensure that the European basketball family operates in harmony and is ready for the new calendar which comes into effect in 2017.

As part of this process, the Board of FIBA Europe acknowledged that it does not serve the interests of the clubs and the sport itself to have three club competitions in Europe and has agreed to explore ways of how to address that issue.

Following a compliance review of all recognised entities, which led to the recent derecognition of the current Adriatic Basketball Association (ABA) League, the Board approved the provisional recognition of other regional leagues - Baltic Basketball League (BBL); Baltic Women's Basketball League (BWBL); Central European Women's League (CEWL).

In the matter of ABA League, the Board of FIBA Europe gave its full backing to a project for a new competition which is to replace the de-recognised Adriatic League. FIBA Europe will meet with club representatives in the region in the next few days, to present a concrete plan and discuss the details of the project, following a first round of constructive discussions which took place in the last few months.

The Board was also informed that the legal procedure against Euroleague Properties SA for outstanding payments since 2012 has now been initiated, as requested by the Board of FIBA Europe at its previous meeting.

The Board is looking forward to constructive discussions touching on all the above, in a meeting with European Federations and leagues on 27 May at the FIBA headquarters in Mies.

Following that meeting further decisions are expected to be taken at the meetings of the FIBA Central Board and the Board of FIBA Europe during the month of June.

FIBA