Ljubljana-Slovenian, General Assembly Ljubljana, The FIBA Europe General Assembly 2012 concluded in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, Saturday, with a message of unity among its member Federations and a promise to work harder to bring further success to European basketball on and off the court.
FIBA Europe President Olafur Rafnsson reconfirmed the organisation’s priorities regarding competitions – strengthening the status of its National Federations and streamlining the men’s European club competitions.
The FIBA Europe Board had on Friday discussed a new proposal by the Competition Commission, offering an alternative to the global calendar project proposed by FIBA. The proposal includes game days (windows) for EuroBasket or World Cup qualifiers in the winter months.
The Session
The President of the Slovenian Basketball Federation Roman Volcic opened the General Assembly by welcoming to Ljubljana all delegates.
Mr Rafnsson thanked the hosts for organising the event and their fantastic hospitality and presented the milestones and achievements of FIBA Europe in 2011.
“We have had our ups and downs as can be expected in a dynamic and growing sports organisation,” said Rafnsson.
“In recent months and weeks we faced challenges to our unity which is a great concern; but we have come out of it stronger.”
The FIBA Europe President went on to pay tribute to last year’s benchmark event – the EuroBasket in Lithuania, as well as the EuroBasket Women in Poland. He pointed out that next year’s EuroBasket in Slovenia and the EuroBasket Women in France have the potential to surpass all expectations.
He reiterated that the Youth competitions must be preserved as the cornerstone of European basketball development. He emphasised that for the club competitions FIBA Europe has advanced its communication with the different stakeholders and that there is a need to continue working on good terms for finding solutions to the current issues despite some disagreements.
“But it is the National Federations which are at the core of our focus in the future; and for this we intend to give our increased attention,” said Rafnsson.
The General Assembly delegates were presented with the annual reports by the different FIBA Europe Commissions, the European Zone of the International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) as well as the organisers of EuroBasket Women 2013 and EuroBasket 2013.
FIBA President Yvan Mainini also addressed the delegates during the session.
The FIBA Europe Board had ratified, Friday, by a large majority a decision of the Executive Committee in early May to relieve Secretary General Nar Zanolin of his duties.
The next FIBA Europe General Assembly will take place at the Celtic Manor, in Wales, on 18th and 19th May 2013.
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