FIBA – House of Basketball worth the wait

MIES (FIBA) – Members of FIBA’s extensive family travelled from all corners of the world and were joined by local authorities on Monday for the historic groundbreaking of the House of Basketball close to the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland.

An estimated 200 people gathered in the commune of Mies, in the canton of Vaud, for a ceremony that marked the commencement of construction for what will become the international basketball federation’s permanent home in the winter of 2012-2013.

The memorable moment came more than 42 years after FIBA originally set out plans to find a place it could call its own and that fact was not lost on anyone involved in the process.

“It has been a long ride since 1968 when FIBA first decided to build its own headquarters,” said Bob Elphinston, President of the International Basketball Foundation (IBF), which will oversee the construction of the building.

“I am very proud that during my recently-completed term as president of FIBA and will all your support we were able to go through all the steps necessary to commence construction, including the establishment of the IBF that will manage this exciting project, a world class headquarter on behalf of FIBA.”

Elphinston’s successor at the helm of FIBA, Yvan Mainini, traced the international federation’s movements since its creation in Geneva in 1932.

“FIBA has had its head offices in a number of places over the past 78 years,” he explained. “First it was Rome from 1932 until 1940. Then it moved to Bern, Switzerland, from 1940 until 1956 for reasons that you can understand given the period.

“FIBA was transformed with its Secretary General (Borislav Stankovic) and had five different addresses in Munich. And then, after a fairly big change, in 2002, FIBA came to Switzerland, to Geneva. In late 2012-early 2013, we will return for the inauguration of this building and look forward to welcoming our national federation members.”

On 17th October 1968, at a FIBA Central Board meeting in Mexico, the decision was made to build FIBA a home, but no precise thought was given as to where and when.

It wasn’t until 30 years later, in 1998, that the FIBA World Congress looked at the idea more closely. In May 2000, eight cities presented their projects to the Central Board and FIBA chose to move back to Geneva, doing so on 29th May 2002.

Six years later, Mies was selected as the site for the ‘House of Basketball’ where FIBA purchased a land of approximately 8,000 square metres to build its own home.

FIBA becomes the latest international federation to set up its main offices in the canton of Vaud and the move was welcomed by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge, whose headquarters are in nearby Lausanne.

“I rejoice that FIBA is joining the more than 35 international federations who are grouped around the IOC in the canton of Vaud that helps them so much,” he said.

“There's great added value (in having headquarters close to the IOC's) in that it faciliates the contacts between the IOC and the now more than 35 international federations residing around our headquarters. You can always work in a better way in a face-to-face contact than via e-mail, or video conference or telephone call. It forges stronger relationships.”

Read the official press release here

FIBA