Reporting from Istanbul: Nikos Varlas/ info@eurohoops.net
In the traditional FIBA EuroBasket post-tournament press conference, FIBA Europe President Turgay Demirel addressed the press and answered their questions. In regards to tickets sold, according to the answer given by the CEO of Turkish Basketball federation Omer Onan: “It was quite normal, since the hosts, Turkey was eliminated in the first knock-out round and there are also security concerns all over Europe”.
As far as the officiating is concerned, and the complaints of many teams especially because of the absence of Euroleague referees, the response was that those types of issues always exist no matter the circumstances and that the officiating was better than 2015.
The third key aspect which was discussed was how many countries will host the Eurobasket in 2017. While there is no official assigning yet, in one of the next FIBA Europe councils a decision must be made, at least 3 years before the start of the competition.
What must be determined first is if this years model will be repeated with four countries hosting the qualifying rounds and the knock-out round happening in one or if one country will host the whole tournament. FIBA Executive Director Europe, Kamil Novak, was also present in the panel.
(Photo credit: FIBA.basketball)