RIGA (Latvia) – As is customary on the eve of the Finals at every EuroBasket, FIBA Europe President Jorge Garbajosa and FIBA Executive Director Europe Kamil Novak fielded questions from the accredited media at the big event on Saturday.
The press conference typically serves to recap the tournament and provide media with the chance to obtain more information on the main narratives of the competition, but this time it also provided a first glimpse of the most important metrics of the 2025 edition.
Mr. Garbajosa stated that EuroBasket has a bigger worldwide reach than any other sport’s European championship, apart from soccer. He cited as an example the competition’s following in the US, which is now within the top-5 countries in terms of engagement with the official EuroBasket digital channels.
The FIBA Europe President revealed that in Türkiye more than 10 million viewers watched Friday’s semi-final between their national team and Greece, the highest ratings for a basketball event in recent Turkish TV history.
Similarly, the quarter-final between Greece and Lithuania registered an average TV share of 46 percent in Greece, rising to 72 percent among the most dynamic, younger audience.
Mr. Garbajosa added that the quality of the competition’s TV production received high praised by broadcasters all over the world, with certain coverage practices attracting the interest of professionals that are accustomed to NBA game coverage.
The enormous popularity of FIBA EuroBasket 2025 is not only reflected in the TV viewership numbers that the FIBA Europe President cited during the press conference, but also in the official digital channel figures.
It is indicative that the 2025 edition social media engagement levels have already more than doubled those of 2022, even before the conclusion of the tournament.
Additionally, the official website of the competition has already recorded more than double the page views of the previous edition, with the US, Greece, Germany, Serbia and Lithuania accounting for most of the traffic.
While the final attendance figures are still pending, those for the Group Phase have been finalized and the occupancy rate across the four arenas rose to 61 percent, from 58 percent in 2022. A total of 372,334 spectators were in attendance for the 60 games of the Group Phase.
Mr. Novak highlighted the high standards that the four co-hosts set during FIBA EuroBasket 2025, raising the bar for all subsequent hosts. The FIBA Executive Director Europe said it was remarkable that Poland, which stepped in after the war in Ukraine broke out, managed to deliver on an exemplary level despite having fewer than three years to prepare.
He also underlined the huge investment that Cyprus, the smallest country to ever host a EuroBasket group, made in order to achieve organizational standards that left everyone impressed. Mr. Novak added that Tampere showcased the most modern multi-functional arena in Europe and an amazing atmosphere, while Riga, which is hosting the Final Phase in addition to a group, cemented its reputation as the up-and-coming destination of choice for big events.
Mr. Novak asserted that one of the strengths of the EuroBasket’s multi-host format that was introduced in 2015 is that countries small in size, such as Cyprus, can aspire to put together a bid and become a part of EuroBasket as hosts, something that would not be possible if they had to assume the load of hosting this huge event on their own.
Mr. Garbajosa and Mr. Novak fielded questions on several other topics beyond EuroBasket, but ended the press conference by wetting the appetite of all attendees with a reference to the opening game of FIBA EuroBasket 2029. The opener of the next edition is set to take place in the iconic Santiago Bernabeu, the home of Real Madrid’s soccer team, and is of course expected to pulverize attendance records.
FIBA