FIBA: Italian and French clubs commit to governing body

FIBA met with the top Basketball federations of Europe on Thursday in London and on the agenda was the prospect of creating a Basketball Champions League in the continent. The federations of France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, Spain and Turkey met with FIBA Vice-President/FIBA Europe President Turgay Demirel and Secretary General Patrick Baumann chairing the discussion.

The group agreed on several points to move European Basketball towards a Champions League and came to the following conclusions:

– National Federations support the joint project of FIBA and Domestic Leagues for the creation of the Basketball Champions League, which promotes sporting criteria, protects the domestic championships and strengthens the development of European basketball;

– France and Italy have confirmed that their clubs will participate only in competitions organised jointly by FIBA and Domestic Leagues. Others are expected to follow suit;

– National Federations confirmed their agreement with the conclusions of the Working Groups from the meetings of 7 January 2016 in Munich and look forward to the finalisation of their work at the end of this month.

Now Europe’s governing body says the group will move to the next steps of creating the Champions League, which will involve forming a new company that will take charge of the business and commercial aspects of the proposed league.

The Basketball Champions League will be officially presented in Paris on 20-21 March 2016.