FIBA statement on Thursday's meeting with Euroleague Commercial Assets

FIBA confirmed it met with EuroLeague Commercial Assets (ECA) on Thursday and received three variations of a so-called "international calendar", with the first of these essentially a replicate of ECA's proposal made in September of last year. All three versions of the proposal set out to relegate national team activities worldwide to an annual six-week period between June and September, which means national teams would not have the regular and consistent presence and traction throughout the year that is paramount to the global development of basketball.

Additionally, ECA is conditioning any agreement on the calendar to FIBA accepting also a number of new points, which directly impact the internal organization of National Federations and Domestic Leagues.

FIBA will consult with the relevant members of the FIBA family (federations, leagues, clubs, players) about the ECA proposals that would affect them, and act accordingly.

Despite the attempted boycott by ECA, the first and second windows of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers were played successfully in November andFebruary respectively, breaking attendance records for home games.

FIBA is looking forward to the third window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers to be played in June-July.

As the world governing body for basketball, FIBA as always is ready to study and take into consideration proposals that respect national teams and domestic leagues for the cycle after 2021.