FIBA Europe gives chances to Hungary, co-hosting

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - Looking ahead to the 2012 summer schedule of youth European Championships, two things really stand out: first of all, FIBA Europe wants to give Hungary as much preparation as possible for EuroBasket Women 2015; and secondly, the European continental basketball body appears ready to give co-hosting tournaments another chance.

In 2015, Hungary will be hosting EuroBasket Women for the fifth time in their history having done so in 1950, 1964, 1983 and 1997. And even though Hungarian basketball clubs have a long tradition in European club competitions, FIBA Europe is once again doing the correct thing in giving Hungary youth championships ahead of time to prepare for the big event in three and a half years time.

The proposed 2015 host cities are Budapest, Sopron, Gyor, Szombathely and Veszprem. While those will likely be awarded youth events in coming years, this summer Miskolc will be the backdrop of the U16 European Championship for Women in July and the U20 European Championship for Women will take place in Debrecen in August.

Before Miskolc hosted the U18 European Championship for Women Division B tournament last summer, it had been some time since Hungary last welcomed national team basketball to its borders. The 2006 U20 European Championship for Women took place in Sopron while the 2005 U18 women’s tournament was played in Budapest. Before that, Sopron hosted the U16 women in 1997 – actually after that year's EuroBasket Women.

FIBA Europe made the right choice in bringing the EuroBasket Women back to Hungary, where clubs like Sopron, Pecs and Gyor have represented their country well outside of their homeland. And the youth tournaments are a huge help in building up the local populations and organisations to prepare for bigger events and determine what infrastructure still needs development.

One city surprisingly missing from the EuroBasket Women plans is Pecs, which this season failed to reach the EuroLeague Women for the first time in 16 years, but did host the 2004 EuroLeague Women Final Four.

The youth tournaments will also prepare Hungary to host other events in the future.

Attila Czene, the country’s Secretary of State for Sport, said at the awarding of EuroBasket Women 2015 that Hungary are also considering to bid for the Youth Olympics in 2017.

The other major note of interest from the selection of youth tournament hosts came with the decision regarding the U16 and U18 European Championships Men, which in 2012 will both be co-hosted by neighbors Lithuania and Latvia.

It was widely regarded in the industry that FIBA Europe had shunned countries co-hosting tournaments since the 2007 U20 European Championship Men in neighboring towns Nova Gorica, Slovenia and Gorizia, Italy – which was complicated by the fact that Slovenia was not yet in the Schengen Area, meaning that teams, officials and fans continually needed to go through border controls when going from one arena to the other.

The fact that the Germany/France-conceived EuroBasket 2015 bid appeared destined to be approved before falling apart at the last minute hinted that FIBA Europe has since softened its non-official stance. And it seems the case for certain now that FIBA Europe has allowed Lithuania and Latvia to co-host two tournaments this summer.

Lithuanian basketball fans – and officials – were looking forwards to bigger things this summer, hoping for both the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (awarded to Venezuela) and the U20 European Championship (awarded to Slovenia) – the latter which could have possibly seen Jonas Valanciunas play in his final youth tournament. But one summer after hosting EuroBasket, Lithuanian fans still get to see both the U16 and U18 men’s tournaments not to mention the FIBA U17 World Championship in late June and early July. 

The U20 men decision makes sense as it gives the EuroBasket 2013 hosts Slovenia a chance to prepare for Europe’s top tournament.

FIBA Europe’s reversal on co-hosting meanwhile also makes sense. Two host nations hosting their teams’ groups promise more fan support for all games – which was the underlying premise of Germany and France’s EuroBasket 2015 bid along with Croatia and Italy.

Should Lithuania and Latvia succeed in co-hosting their tournaments this summer, European basketball fans may see more of neighboring countries teaming up to host events.

David Hein

FIBA

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