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MIES (Switzerland) – As 2020 draws to a close, FIBA President Hamane Niang took some time to reflect on this year heavily affected by the pandemic and look ahead to the end of the cycle in 2023. Here is his interview with fiba.basketball.
Looking back over the year, particularly since March when the pandemic struck, FIBA has been able to positively handle the COVID crisis and has successfully executed numerous events. How has this been done?
FIBA was one of the first federations to take drastic measures at the beginning of the pandemic.
In February, we moved one of the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournaments from Foshan, China to Belgrade, Serbia, and were able to organize it professionally and appropriately for our players in nine days. Then, on March 12, we decided to suspend all FIBA competitions and after the announcement of the new dates for the Olympic Games, we managed, with the efforts of everyone in the FIBA family, to approve an adapted calendar in nine days. for the next three years.
FIBA has shown that as an organization we can adapt quickly to such a difficult and extraordinary situation.
FIBA first published recommendations on resuming competition in May, with the Guidelines Back to Basketball – Restart for National Federations, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A second edition was then published in August to provide further guidance and advice for the restart of basketball activities and competitions for national leagues and federations.
These guidelines were developed by the FIBA Medical Commission and the FIBA COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group, and in consultation with the FIBA Players Commission. A specific risk assessment tool for basketball has also been developed in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).
I am proud that FIBA has successfully run numerous events throughout the year, from the recent November window of the FIBA Continental Cup Qualifiers, to the Basketball Champions League and the Basketball Champions League Americas, which are among the few leagues that could finish their seasons. The 3×3 world tour, which just ended last weekend, played a total of 5 events.
The fifth season of the Basketball Champions League is currently underway, as well as the 2020/21 season of the Euroleague Women and the qualifying round of the EuroCup Women. Our regional office in Africa was also able to run the FIBA U18 African Championship in Egypt for both boys and girls.
The successful and consistent implementation of comprehensive precautionary measures has led to the success of these events. There was rigorous testing, before and during the events, of all the people, not just the athletes, all the people who go into bubbles. Thanks to the preparatory work of the Medical Commission, the Competitions Commission and other experts, and consistent decision-making by the Central Board, Executive Committee and Zone Boards, FIBA has been able to conduct safe competitions in all continents.
Holding these contests has only been possible thanks to the extraordinary teamwork of the Regional Offices and our Headquarters and I want to thank all the people who were part of this.
Was FIBA able to continue supporting your National Federation during this challenging year?
Throughout the year, FIBA and its Regional Offices have been publishing webinars for National Federations, players, coaches, game officials, photographers and other game players to support them in their development and learning activities. In the summer, we had more than 250 webinars produced in the short period of 2 months, with the participation of more than 150 National Federations and more than 80,000 people. These webinars have continued in all FIBA regions throughout the year.
FIBA published 2 editions of Back to Basketball – Reset Guidelines for National Federations, as well as the BAT COVID-19 Guidelines.
The Basketball Arbitration Tribunal (BAT), which provides dispute resolution services between players, agents, coaches and clubs through arbitration, published a set of BAT COVID-19 Guidelines. They were drafted to provide actual and potential BAT users with procedural guidance and to help facilitate friendly settlements within the basketball community.
FIBA has launched 4 pilot programs as part of the FIBA PLUS Strategy and Planning Program in Europe, America, Oceania and Africa. Four national federations have been selected to participate in the program: the Kosovo Basketball Federation, the Trinidad and Tobago National Basketball Federation, the Guam Basketball Confederation and the Cape Verde National Basketball Federation. The FIBA Plus program is designed to assist National Federations in the development of basketball in their country by helping them develop a sustainable strategic approach. The FIBA PLUS Strategy and Planning program is one of the initiatives undertaken by FIBA, as part of its 2019-2023 strategy, to “Empower National Federations” to reach their full potential.
The crisis has allowed FIBA to innovate and develop new projects such as the youth skills challenge and e-sports …
With challenges come opportunities and FIBA was able to adapt and execute two different projects this year.
Due to the pandemic, the U-17 World Cups could not be played. However, this provided an opportunity to develop the FIBA U17 Skills Challenge for boys and girls. 32 teams participated in the 2020 FIBA U17 Skills Challenges after completing the Regional Qualifiers in Africa, America, Asia and Europe in August. A spectacular performance in the final saw Mongolia conquer the field in the 2020 FIBA U17 Skills Challenge, while China celebrated success in the 2020 FIBA U17 Women’s Skills Challenge. This competition format gave the opportunity to some more federations small to participate on an international scale. and also for teams to train and compete together again. Very well received by all those who participated and future plans for more editions.
We have also invested in Esports, organizing two editions of the FIBA Esports Open. It has been a great success within the global community of basketball players and has enormous potential: we had an expanded field of over 35 national teams for the second edition of the FIBA Esports Open, which will take place over three weekends of week with six regional conferences in November and December. It is more than double the number of teams, compared to the first tournament!
FIBA had eight strategic objectives defined by the FIBA Congress in Beijing last year. What progress has been made on these and what are the current priorities?
The focus of the cycle for 2019-2023 will be on three strategic priorities.
The first is a continuation of the work carried out in 2014 – 2019. FIBA is committed to empowerment of National Federations helping them sustainably reach their full potential.
We need to support them and offer our resources at all levels, from the grassroots and be transparent to allow the development and strengthening of our members in all National Federations. To make basketball the most popular sports community, gender diversity must be increased and considered in all aspects of the game, on and off the court. This is why the second priority is so important.
FIBA is committed to having more women in basketball: increase the number of women who play, coach and referee, as well as increase the number of fans who follow the women’s game and ensure that more women participate in the governance of the game within the FIBA family.
2019 was a pivotal year for women’s basketball with the optimization of the national women’s competition system, the introduction of the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series and the election of Carol Callan, the first female president of the Americas. In 2020 we approved new rules for FIBA licenses for additional female referees and the obligation to have a coach at youth youth events. Another great news is the launch of Adelante, a program to unleash the next generation of women leaders. These are great success stories; however, there is still much work to be done at all levels.
FIBA is committed to expanding the FIBA family increasing your visibility and popularity, including increasing the number of licensed and 3×3 basketball entrants.
We want to attract as many people as possible to basketball. 3×3 has proven to be a huge success, especially when added to the Tokyo Olympics. 3×3 basketball is one of the key elements of our organization and has grown dramatically in the last five years.
FIBA also aims to increase its engagement with other stakeholders, not just players, and implement various programs within the global basketball community. An example of this is the FIBA Esports Open, which I mentioned earlier.
We hope that life and sport will return to normal next year, what will be FIBA’s main focus in 2021?
We are looking forward to 2021 and the highly anticipated FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments to be held in Canada, Croatia, Lithuania and Serbia, along with the 3×3 Olympic Qualifying Tournaments as well. And then of course there is the Tokyo Olympics with the historic 3×3 debut, which we were all waiting for.
For basketball, it will be the first time that 12 Olympic medals will be contested at the Olympic Games.
The launch of BAL is also another exciting moment that will take place in 2021. Building on current FIBA club competitions in Africa, BAL marks the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside of North America. We are very excited to be working on this competition together with the NBA and I am sure that we will witness some great basketball moments once the league starts.
The journey to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will continue in 2021, with the start of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers in November 2021. We will witness how 80 teams will take to the field to have the opportunity to play in the FIBA flagship event, which will be hosted for the first time in three countries: the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
We will also continue the important work done this year on FIBA’s strategic priorities and new projects.
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