MUNICH - Thirty-two FIBA Europe National Member Federations were in attendance at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers Marketing and Communications Workshop on Wednesday and Thursday.

The two-day workshop took place as part of FIBA's continued work in preparing all of their global member federations for the new competition calendar which will come into effect in late 2017.

The workshop provided the opportunity for federations to discuss the opportunities and challenges they will face with the new qualification windows, as well as hear from a number of leading experts from the world of sport on how to take advantage of the unique opportunity they are now being presented with in terms of marketing, media and promotion.

32 of FIBA's European national federations were present at the workshop

Participants in the workshop were actively involved throughout the two days, with a strong emphasis on group work and networking.

"It was mentioned more than once that this is the first time that you see all these marketing and communication specialists from the respective federations together exchanging ideas, best practices and views," commented Belgian Basketball Federation Secretary General Stefan Garaleas. "I hope now everyone can go back to their federations and put the ideas that have been brought forward here into practice.

"Also striking me as a major positive is that FIBA has taken a lot from the workshops that were held with the individual federations in 2016. It is obvious here that FIBA have listened to our concerns and have taken steps to address them."

The workshop marks the first of four that FIBA will organize, with three more to follow in the Americas, Africa and Asia/Oceania.

For Europe, the journey to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 already begins for 13 teams from August 2-19, 2017, when they compete in the European Pre-Qualifiers.

For an overview of the Pre-Qualifiers groups, click here.

FIBA