By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The meeting of the six domestic federations (Spain, Turkey, Italy, Greece, France, Germany) with FIBA in Rome, Italy, concluded and the main decision is that FIBA will go on as planned and organize its own Champions League next season.
The “schism” between the Euroleague and FIBA is official again with two rival leagues organized in the upcoming 2016-17 season. The official announcement was released on Thursday night and more details about the teams which will be invited in the Champions League are expected soon. The Russian federation was also present as a spectator of the meeting.
Also the teams which will be competing in Euroleague and Eurocup and its members are facing the danger of being unsubscribed from any competitions under FIBA’s shield, including their domestic leagues.
Few hours later FIBA made an official announcement:
“Seven leading European national federations met in Rome on Thursday to discuss the current remodeling of the European club competitions.
Under the leadership of FIBA President Horacio Muratore, FIBA Vice-President and FIBA Europe President Turgay Demirel and FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann, the basketball governing bodies of France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain and Turkey took note of the new European competitions announced recently by Euroleague Basketball.
The participants unanimously decided to continue the ongoing work on the Basketball Champions League project, making the necessary modifications to take into consideration the desired sporting principles and openness of a top level club competition system in order to launch the competition as planned for the 2016-17 season.
The Presidents of the attending National Federations and FIBA are committed to grow the sport of basketball in Europe and will now reach out to all clubs and leagues that are interested in participating in the remodelled competition system, with the objective of having the format and all conditions finalised in a united way early 2016”.