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El FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis gave an interview on the Greek television CosmoTV where he analyzed the current situation of the basket sport including the growth of the BCL, the plans of the European NBA or the relations between national federations and leagues.
He has only been in command of the International Federation for three years, which has seemed much more to him for all that he has had to live, although “these three years have made the family even more united. Since the very early death of Patrick Baumann, the great difficulties of a project like the World Cup in the largest country in the world, with matches in 8 cities, playing in Wuhan in September to lead to a pandemic that was born there … I think as an organization we are even stronger and in solidarity with a strategy that shows how FIBA is better prepared for what lies ahead “.
We need to understand where our teams are going and try to converge. This is the future “
About the latest information about NBA’s intentions to create a competition in Europe the head of basketball considers that “in previous stages he has been overexposed, not only to our audience – to which we have the obligation to inform – but to the general audience with discussions, disagreements, objections, arguments, counterarguments … I think that meetings should be held in a private setting where everyone brings their strategy to the table future and see with others where they can go. We have strategic alliances with the NBA or the IOC to grow the sport around the world. As I said from the beginning, we need to understand where our teams are going and try to converge. This is the future. Because only through union does the market pie grow, commercially speaking, but there is no doubt that through this coexistence we will be able to achieve improvements; for example, regarding the calendar “.
All of this made us stronger and I think there is no doubt that it increased the credibility of the organization as a leader in the sports movement. “
The inclusive role of FIBA
What does not surprise Zagklis is that “In difficult times everyone looks at the environment where they feel safest. And we have received that from the first days of the pandemic. The basketball community looked towards everyone’s natural space: the federations, the Leagues … Actions were carried out We were the first sport to make a global protocol for all competitions, the first sport to play qualifiers on the 5 Continents, in November 2020, more than 1,000 athletes traveled and no one got sick. .. All of this made us stronger and I think there is no doubt that it increased the credibility of the organization as a leader in the sports movement. In many of the things that happened, FIBA went ahead. We understood that the problems of the past are relativized in a pandemic. “
The Secretary General of FIBA also appealed to the basketball union since “We are not a body that only has a regulatory role, that makes the regulations, that only organizes the World Cup and major competitions. We are the body that aims to promote sport and its development from the union, from Inclusion and not Exclusion “
The power of the Champions
A concept, the inclusion that has helped the unstoppable growth of the Basketball Champions League. Something that Zaklis is “surprised about every year, both for its pan-European character and for the quality of the teams and the final tournament, which is getting better every year. It has helped us to improve the collaboration between the Federations. I see increasing cooperation with the Leagues, which makes me very happy and at the same time I see a much better degree of communication between the clubs themselves, whether they play in the Euroleague or elsewhere, with their Federations. As we are very close to the new start of the national team matches for the qualifiers and the new round of the World Cup, this is essential for us. “
