MIES (Switzerland) - The FIBA Central Board has met at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball, FIBA's headquarters, marking their first meeting for the Olympic year 2024. 

The following key topics were discussed at the meeting:

FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2024 and Olympic Basketball Tournaments Paris 2024

The Central Board received reports on the preparations for the Olympic Basketball Tournaments for both men and women of the Paris 2024 Games, to be held in Lille (Group Phase) and Paris (Final Phase) from July 26 to August 11. The draw for both tournaments was recently held at FIBA's headquarters.

Post-event reports were presented on the successful FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2024 held in Belgium, Brazil, China and Hungary. Over the course of three days of competition, record crowds, exciting match-ups and impressive digital numbers unfolded, resulting in 12 teams securing spots for the upcoming Olympic Games. The Players' Commission and the FIBA Sport & Competitions Department submitted proposals for the further improvement of player conditions in future tournaments.

Preparations continue for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2024, which will be held from July 2 to 7 in Greece, Latvia, Puerto Rico and Spain.

FIBA Continental Cups 2025

The Central Board received reports on the preparations for next year's Continental Cups, to be played across the four regions, with the successful execution of the first Window of Qualifiers taking place in February. The window saw 84 national teams take to the court over five days, with sell-out venues for some games and some stand-out team performances across all regions.

FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 Pre-Qualifying Tournaments 

The draw for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 Pre-Qualifying Tournaments took place at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball, with the attendance of the Central Board members. The hosts were recently announced for the two tournaments that will have 16 teams from across the world, four per region, in action in August in Kigali, Rwanda and Mexico City, Mexico. This is the first step taken on the road to the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 in Germany.

FIBA U17 Basketball World Cups 2024

Reports were given on current preparations for both the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 which are set to take place in Türkiye from June 29 to July 7 for the men, and in Mexico from July 13 to 21 for the women. Draw ceremonies were held in Istanbul and Leon recently to determine the groups for each tournament.   

FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025

The Central Board has approved a second venue for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025 which is to be hosted in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Local Organizing Committee has devised a streamlined setup, with both venues situated under one roof. This 'one location' approach offers the chance to establish a fan festival directly outside the venue, enhancing the experiences of both the players and spectators within a context of sustainable event delivery.

3x3

Reports were received on the FIBA 3x3 current season which has seen a spectacular start with the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup 2024 in Singapore taking place in late March, as well as the first FIBA 3x3 Universality Olympic Qualifying Tournament played in Hong Kong, China. The next FIBA 3x3 Universality Qualifying Tournament will be in Utsunomiya, Japan, in May, with the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament set for May 16 to 19 in Debrecen, Hungary. Additionally, the FIBA 3x3 Women's Series 2024 has just tipped off and the FIBA 3x3 World Tour will do so on April 27. 

Club Competitions

Updates were received on FIBA's busy club competition season, including the current Basketball Africa League (BAL) and the Basketball Champions League which is about to enter into Final Four weekend in Belgrade, Serbia. The EuroLeague Women and Basketball Champions League Americas have just completed their season, which saw Fenerbahce Alagoz Holding and Quimsa take out back-to-back titles, respectively. FIBA's revamped league in Asia, the Basketball Champions League Asia, will tip off in June, with Qualifiers currently underway. 

A report on preparations for the upcoming FIBA Intercontinental Cup was received and also on the recent Youth Basketball Champions League which took place in Debrecen, Hungary. Lithuanian club Rytas Vilnius became the second-ever champions of the Youth BCL in the 13-club event, representing nine different countries.

eFIBA Season 2

The report of eFIBA Season 2 was approved by the Central Board, which saw the USA win the World Finals in late November last year, at a first-ever eFIBA LAN event in Sweden. 

FIBA Academy

The FIBA Academy, home of FIBA's International Education and Research initiatives, is designed to help individuals and, through them, basketball organizations reach their full potential by continuously growing their know-how and skills through ground-breaking educational experiences and access to strategic information. The FIBA Academy roadmap was presented and approved by the Central Board and outlines four key initiatives: educational programs, online courses, website and digital libraries, and research and studies. It will be directed at basketball executives, players, coaches and officials.

Official Basketball Rules (OBR)

Central Board gave the green light for modifications to be made to the Official Basketball Rules, effective as of October 1, 2024. Provisions have been added or amended to the OBR regarding in particular:

• To provide a clear definition of basket interference
• To clarify the definition and establish distinct categories of correctable errors, when and how such errors can be corrected and authorize the use of the Instant Replay System to identify and correct the respective errors
• Consequential amendments to game participants', scorer's and assistant scorers' duties due to the amended definition of correctable errors
• To allow coaches to withdraw their request for a Head Coach's Challenge, providing the same flexibility as with substitutions and time-outs

Other matters

The Central Board has extended the current status of the two National Federations of Russia and Belarus until the next Central Board meeting in December 2024.

The Central Board approved the suspension of the National Federation of Burundi (FEBABU) due to its encouragement of club Dynamo BBC to violate the BAL Operations Manual and eventually forfeit its games during Season 4.

The Central Board approved the FIBA 2023 consolidated financial statements.

###

About FIBA
FIBA (fiba.basketball) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 212 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognized as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

For further information about FIBA, visit fiba.basketball or follow FIBA on Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.