MIES (Switzerland) – FIBA’s Executive Committee met today at the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball, FIBA headquarters, for their second meeting of the 2019-2023 cycle. 

The meeting commenced with a one minute of silence to pay homage to the recent passing of two basketball greats – NBA Commissioner Emeritus and FIBA Hall of Famer, David Stern, and basketball icon, five-time NBA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIBA Basketball World Cup Ambassador, Kobe Bryant.  

Below are the key decisions from the meeting. 

FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments just around the corner

Next week sees the highly anticipated Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments tip-off. With the relocation of the event from Foshan, China to Belgrade, Serbia, final preparations are being completed for the two tournaments which are now taking place in conjunction with each other. Teams from China, Great Britain, Korea and Spain will be playing their scheduled games at the City Arena in Belgrade with the tournament now classified into two groups.  Belgium and France will host the other two tournaments.

Preparation for the Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, taking place in June, are underway with the four tournaments being hosted in Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and Serbia. 

Richard Carrion appointed Chairman of the Joint Management Committee for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023

The Executive Committee has named Richard Carrion as the Chairman of Joint Management Committee’s Board, the supervisory body of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, which is set to take place in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines. Mr Carrion has been an IOC member since 1990 and has served among other Olympic roles as a member of the Coordination Commission for the Olympic Games of Atlanta 1996, Rio 2016 and currently Milano Cortina 2026. He has served on FIBA's Central Board since 2010 and is currently a member of the Executive Committee.

David Crocker will act as Executive Director of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 in addition to his duties as FIBA Oceania Executive Director.  

Continental Cup Qualifiers set for February tip off

The Executive Committee discussed the upcoming Continental Cup qualifying tournaments that are due to take place across the FIBA regions in less than three weeks. 

Due to the current coronavirus outbreak, the Executive Committee decided to swap some of the host teams of the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifier games that were due to be played in China and Hong Kong. The following changes have been confirmed for the first window:

The first game between Hong Kong and Guam will now be played in Guam on February 20, 2020. 

The first game between Hong Kong and Australia will now be played in Australia on  February 23, 2020. 

FIBA will continue to monitor the situation closely and will not hesitate to implement any further measures should they be required.

Hungary confirmed as host for FIBA Youth World Cups

Following the decision to approve a multi-year hosting model for Youth World Cup, the Executive Committee has awarded three Youth World Cups to Hungarian Basketball Federation. The FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2021, the FIBA U17 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 and the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2023 will take place in the city of Debrecen in Hungary. The Hungarian Basketball Federation has a solid history of hosting basketball events with the FIBA EuroBasket Women 2015 taking place in the same venue that will host the FIBA Youth World Cups, as well as several 3x3 events held in Debrecen over the past five years. 

Other candidates who have expressed interest to host Youth World Cups will now be provided the opportunity to candidate for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2021, the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2022 and the FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup 2023, which will be assigned at the next Central Board meeting which will take place in March.

Other Competitions updates

The Executive Committee reviewed all Club Competitions and received reports on the progress of the upcoming Basketball African League set to tip off in March, the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, the Basketball Champions League Americas and the Basketball Champions League, as well as the upcoming FIBA Intercontinental Cup that will take place next weekend in Tenerife, Spain.     

The Executive Committee also approved a report by the 3x3 department regarding the upcoming 3x3 World Tour 2020 season, the 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament and the 3x3 Continental Cups.

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About FIBA
FIBA (fiba.basketball) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 213 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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