SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - The Board of FIBA Europe, term of office 2019-2023, convened for its 15th meeting in Sarajevo on Friday, October 1, ahead of the annual General Assembly of the European national federations due to take place in the same location on Saturday, October 2.

FIΒΑ Europe President Turgay Demirel chaired the first meeting to take place with physical presence of the members in almost two years. The meeting was also attended by FIBA President Hamane Niang, FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis and FIBA Executive Director Europe/FIBA Europe Secretary General Kamil Novak.

Due to special circumstances dictated by the COVID- 19 pandemic, the event in the Bosnia and Herzegovina capital was organized in a hybrid form, with a number of Board members attending via video. The organizers had taken extra steps to guarantee the health and safety of the participants, including mandatory testing for all attendees upon arrival.

Following opening remarks by Mr. Demirel, Mr. Novak presented the Board with a report on the European current state of affairs.

Among others, there was special mention of the recent TIME-OUT 2.0 Erasmus+ project which celebrated its successful conclusion with a graduation ceremony at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in early September.

Mr. Novak also presented updates on two other important development projects, the Erasmus+ project 'Empowerment of Female Coaches and Referees' and the European results of the FIBA U15 Skills Challenge with the global finals taking place this month.

During the meeting, special mention was given to the organization of the 29 FIBA Youth European Challengers in 2021. The Challengers format was devised to address the need of youth national teams to compete in the summer, following a one-year hiatus, whilst respecting locally-imposed health restrictions, and was deemed enormously successful.

The Board approved that the hosts of the 2021 European Youth Championships which did not take place this summer are reconfirmed as organizers for the same events in 2022. All Federations involved have provided positive feedback regarding their capacity to host, the only exception being the FIBA U16 Women's European Championship, Division C which will now be assigned during the Board's December meeting.

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Note: All Division B tournaments may be one day longer/start one day earlier if 21 or more teams register; all Division C tournaments may be two days longer/start two days earlier if 9 or more teams register.

The Board was also presented with:

• A report on the successful organization of FIΒΑ Women's EuroBasket 2021 by Spain and France in June. Despite being organized in bubbles, the event saw some excellent numbers on TV audience and digital, and fans in the stands, albeit in limited numbers adhering to the two countries' health protocols at the time.
• Updates about the preparation of FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2023, which will be held in Israel and Slovenia.
• Preparation updates and upcoming milestones for Europe's flagship event, FIBA EuroBasket 2022. Tickets are currently on sale in Germany, which is hosting the Final Phase in Berlin.
• The bidding process for FIBA EuroBasket 2025, which was concluded at the end of August with six nations applying to host – Cyprus, Finland applied only for the Group Phase, while Hungary, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine applied for both Group and Final Phases. The 2025 event will be awarded by the Board in its spring 2022 meeting.
• A report on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which took place this summer and the exceptional performance by the European National Teams who won six out of 12 basketball medals on offer.
• A report on the FIBA European Championships for Small Countries 2021, which were successfully organized in Cyprus (Women) and Ireland (Men) and were won by Luxembourg and Ireland, respectively.
• A report on the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 European Pre-Qualifiers Second Round which was played in August and saw eight teams advance to the World Cup 2023 European Qualifiers, due to tip off in November.
• Updates on all 3x3 activities throughout the summer, including two much-praised events in iconic locations – the FIBA 3x3 Europe Cups in Paris and Lisbon.
• Updates on the upcoming club competitions season 2021-22, including an extensive report on the activities of the Basketball Champions League which has introduced a new competition system for its 6th edition which is about to tip off.
• Updates on the 'Her World, Her Rules' project.

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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).

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