By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
The ABA League General Assembly came to an abrupt end earlier today and although the representatives didn’t officially discuss the league expansion, the general opinion is that the competition should stay in the same format, according to League President Igor Dodik, per Zurnal.
Dodik added that the applications to join the league coming from Olympiacos and Panathinaikos weren’t complete as some documents were overlooked but also noted that their representatives were invited for the next assembly in order to discuss the topic. Meanwhile, it’s clear that Panathinaikos’ demand to play both in the Greek League and in the ABA Liga can’t be accommodated.
The new ABA League Assembly date hasn’t been officially decided yet but the goal is to hold it as soon as possible, ideally in the next 20 days, perhaps even next week.
Still, it’s obvious that ABA League has its issues to settle, after the recent tension in the league finals. Everyone remains very cautious towards the intention of the two Greek clubs, as it’s obvious for the following press release:
“After a constructive discussion that lasted for several hours, the clubs have reached a decision that the existing normative acts need to be supplemented with a goal of preventing the images like those from the previous ABA League Finals in the future and which were not in accordance with the principles on which the ABA League has been built.
ABA League Assembly did not extend the mandate of the current management and reached a decision to start the procedure of selecting the new management as soon as possible.
The Assembly has been discussing the requests of Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and Bnei Herzliya to be accepted in the competition. The assembly has concluded that, in order for this topic to be discussed, it is above all necessary for those clubs to submit complete documentation in accordance with the founding acts of the ABA league, which requires also the approval of their domestic basketball federations, to which they belong.
In the end, the ABA League Assembly has concluded that ABA League represents a path for the progress, promotion, and development of the basketball across the region and that as such it represents the absolute priority of all clubs”.