Leading European Federations condemn Euroleague’s attack on National Teams

FIBA’s National Federations which have clubs participating in Euroleague (Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey) met today at the House of Basketball to discuss issues relating to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers.

Following the meeting, the 9 National Federations issued the following joint statement:


1. The basketball family needs to stay united and work together in solidarity for the joint goal: promoting the sport of basketball.


2. Clubs and national team competitions can co-exist throughout the year, as it happened until 2003 in basketball and is currently the case in other team sports.


3. We condemn Euroleague Commercial Assets’ (ECA’s) refusal to change two game-days as a commercially-driven attack to the national teams, which endangers their existence and jeopardises their qualification chances to the FIBA Basketball World Cup and Olympic Games. The national teams remain the locomotives of basketball worldwide.


4. We acknowledge ECA’s written confirmation to the European Commission that "A club would certainly not be in breach if it did not field certain players because they are away with national teams in compliance with their regulatory duty under the relevant FIBA’s or national federation’s rules." and urge ECA to respect its own commitment from November 2016, by amending the Euroleague Calendar which creates an evident obstacle in the release of players.


5. We remind the clubs participating in our national championships that they have rights as much as they have obligations. We condemn any direct or indirect pressures from clubs on players.


6. We will continue to provide the best possible conditions for the national team players.


Also present at the House of Basketball, the French Federation fully supports the solidarity expressed and endorses the above statement.