By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
FIBA Europe President Jorge Garbajosa was joined by FIBA President Sheikh Saud Ali Al Thani, FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis, and FIBA Executive Director Europe/FIBA Europe Secretary General Kamil Novak in the 2024 FIBA Europe General Assembly.
The annual event was held in Slovenia on Saturday.
Per the press release: “The 2024 FIBA Europe General Assembly, the annual event that brings together all European member federations of FIBA, was hosted in Portoroz, Slovenia by the Slovenian Basketball Federation, on Saturday, May 11.
FIBA Europe President Jorge Garbajosa chaired the session, with FIBA President Sheikh Saud Ali Al Thani, FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis, FIBA Executive Director Europe/FIBA Europe Secretary General Kamil Novak and members of the FIBA Europe Board also in attendance.
Matjaz Han, the Slovenian Minister for Economy, Tourism and Sport, welcomed the delegates and expressed his pride that the event is being hosted by Slovenia, a country passionate about sport and particularly basketball which has brought a string of major successes in recent times. The Minister also reiterated the importance of the European model of sport supported by his country and FIBA Europe.
In his speech, President Jorge Garbajosa praised the exceptional resilience of the FIBA Europe family during a challenging year, marred by conflict. European basketball not only overcome this but also rose to perfection, capped by two European teams contesting the final of FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
Mr Garbajosa paid special attention to the effort by FIBA Europe to bring new ideas and innovations to the sport in Europe, for club and national competitions alike, while still prioritising grassroots and development programs.
FIBA President Sheikh Saud Ali Al Thani thanked the Slovenian Federation for being excellent hosts and lauded the hard work of FIBA Europe towards showing the way for developing basketball. He urged attendants to help keep politics out of sport, keep basketball united, using the Olympics as the perfect opportunity to showcase the strength of basketball.
In his intervention, FIBA Secretary General Mr Zagklis focused on the current state of play regarding the position of Europe on the world basketball map.
He mentioned that the great result of last year’s World Cup proved that the job is to organise events, to generate funds and with these funds help promote and develop our sport.
He also reiterated the importance of FIBA strategy and its three pillars – Empower National Federations, Women in Basketball and Shaping international club competitions – and the goals of developing youth basketball; making 3×3 the most thrilling urban sport; achieving excellence in organizing national team competitions; sustainability and innovation.
Mr Novak presented a detailed report of all FIBA Europe events, development projects and activities for the last year, which included another season of growth in EuroLeague Women, whilst also looking ahead with preparations for the upcoming FIBA EuroBasket and FIBA Women’s EuroBasket events in 2025.
The delegates were also presented with reports by the FIBA Europe Treasurer, and also the chairs of the Legal, Competitions, Technical, Women’s, Youth Commission and the Small Countries Commission.
The President of IWBF Europe Walter Pfaller offered an overview of activities in Wheelchair basketball in the past 12 months, before Mrs. Monika Puchner rounded up the presentations part with the FIBA Europe Properties report.
An array of amendments to the Bye-Laws of FIBA Europe was approved by the General Assembly.
The 2025 FIBA Europe General Assembly is set to be held in Latvia, while the 2026 session will be hosted by the Iceland Basketball Federation in Reykjavik.”
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL