By Eurohoops team / info@Eurohoops.net
Being interviewed on “Instant Replay“, the show of the Greek Basketball Federation Webradio, FIBA’s Secretary General Andreas Zagklis touched on several topics, including the cooperation between FIBA and the EuroLeague, saying they “haven’t changed an inch” from their approach.
“I think this chapter is very important for our relations in European basketball, but it has a clear extension, in terms of the calendar especially, with our global strategy. FIBA remains available, but at the same time very motivated to “turn the page” on a number of relationships, as it did several years ago with the NBA. So it can do the same, much more so with groups that are within our ecosystem”, he said before talking about the profitable relationship with the NBA over the past few years.
“The cooperation has become multi-level in recent years and in some areas very “deep” and “close”. Cooperation used to be limited to whether athletes could compete with their national teams, and about 21 years ago we started Basketball Without Borders. But now things are very different. Both on an institutional and competitive level, but also by focusing on certain markets or continents, we have a tremendous collaboration”, Andreas Zagklis commented, saying that organizing an NBA game in Greece in the near future “isn’t impossible”.
Finally, the Greek 43-year-old also talked about the upcoming FIBA World Cup, which will be hosted from August 25 to September 10 in Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. “It’s a countdown clock outside our headquarters, so every morning the message is clear to all our staff, as well as all our visitors how much we are close to the organization. It is true that we are looking forward to it. Last year’s EuroBasket and the rest of the continental tournaments, despite the one-year postponement, were the best introduction to this year’s main menu”, FIBA’s Secretary General added.
Joining FIBA in 2016 as legal director, he became the organization’s Secretary General on December 7, 2018. Back at the beginning of December 2022, the Central Board unanimously decided to extend the contract of Andreas Zagklis until 2031. Some days after the announcement, he met with EuroLeague CEO Dejan Bodiroga, saying that “no progress has been made“.