FIBA Europe Board confirms hosts for 2018 national team events

The Board of FIBA Europe, which convened in Munich on Saturday, December 2, debated a number of topics and confirmed the hosts of the 2018 European Championships for Small Countries and all European youth championships.

During its session in Rottach-Egern, Germany, in some of the key talking points, the Board:

- Heard reports by the Executive Director and the chairpersons of the different commissions and was presented with post-event reports on FIBA Europe's flagship events this year, FIBA EuroBasket 2017 and FIBA EuroBasket Women 2017.

- Received an update on the organization of the upcoming FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2019 in Serbia and Latvia and agreed to a proposal to add one extra rest day between the Group and Final Phase so that teams would have enough time to travel to the Final Phase venue and have the required time to prepare.

- Discussed the recent successful start of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers and matters regarding European club competitions.

- Accepted a proposal for introducing stricter admission criteria for teams entering the FIBA Europe Cup, in an effort to raise the standard of the competition. Those include a maximum of two teams per country, from the top two-thirds of the national league's final standings, and with venues of a minimum capacity of 1,500.

- Received an update on the newly introduced Women's Basketball Project which is entering its final planning stages and is expected to be introduced formally in the first half of 2018.

- Reaffirmed the further release of €4 million per year from the FIBA Europe reserves into youth development, for the next two years. The funds will be made available to all European federations as grants for proposals of development projects for the U14 category. In 2017, 59 youth projects from 50 national federations were submitted and were subsequently approved for financing.

- Confirmed that the Men's and Women's European Championship for Small Countries will be organized between June 26 and July 1 in San Marino and Cork, Ireland respectively.

- Was informed that a record number of 257 teams have registered to participate in the 2018 European Youth Championships.

- Approved the hosts of next year's events as follows: