MIES (Switzerland) - FIBA's Central Board met over the past two days, March 26 and 27. The meeting was scheduled to take place at FIBA Headquarters, the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball, however, due to the current situation with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic the meeting took place via video conference.
 
With the recent passing of FIBA Secretary General Emeritus Borislav Stankovic, the meeting commenced with a minute of silence.
 
The following key topics were discussed during the meeting:

Basketball Australia to host the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022

FIBA has awarded the hosting rights for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 to Basketball Australia. Basketball Australia and the Russian Basketball Federation were the two finalists bidding to host FIBA's women's flagship event two years from now.

Covid-19 Pandemic

The Central Board welcomed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee's joint decision to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to next year. FIBA will continue their discussions with the IOC in order to find the best solution for the scheduling of the Olympic Games and the remaining six Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (two for 3x3 basketball and four for men's basketball), confirming at the same time that the teams already qualified to the Olympics will retain their spot.
 
Following the decision to suspend all FIBA competitions taken already on March 12, which was confirmed during the meeting, and after receiving a report by the Chair of FIBA's Medical Commission Dr Peter Harcourt, the Central Board decided on the following:

• To continue to monitor the Covid-19 situation on a daily basis and evaluate the options for the lifting of the suspension of competitions when the situation allows for it.
• To continue the consultation that started on 25 March with hosts of FIBA events at world and senior continental level in 2020 and 2021 so as to assess if changes need to be made to the approved FIBA Calendar, and to convoke a meeting of the Competitions Commission (National Team Competitions Sub-committee) in that regard. The FIBA Executive Committee will take appropriate decisions after the dates of the Tokyo Olympic Games are announced.
• To invite the FIBA Zone Boards to take the necessary decisions regarding the impact of Covid-19 on youth continental events, club continental competitions managed by the Regional Offices, sub-Zone events, as well as allocation of hosts for 2021 onwards.

The Central Board also received an update on the current status of FIBA’s International Club Competitions.

FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments and Continental Cup 2021 Qualifiers Review

The Central Board received a detailed presentation on both the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments and the first window of the Continental Cups 2021 Qualifiers, which took place at the end of February in the regions of Africa, Americas and Asia/Oceania. 

3x3 Basketball

The Central Board decided in regards to 3x3: 

• The change of the FIBA 3x3 World Cup Qualifying Format. The Zone Cup (Continental Cup) winners now qualify directly to the FIBA 3x3 World Cup. Besides, the other qualified teams, except the hosts and reigning champions, are simply the highest-ranked in the FIBA 3x3 Federation Ranking in the respective gender category with a limit of 10 countries per Zone.
• The allocation to the main draw or the qualifiers of the Zone Cups to be based on the FIBA 3x3 Federation Ranking of the relevant gender category.
• The FIBA 3x3 Federation Ranking to be as of now calculated by adding up the FIBA 3x3 Individual World Ranking points of the Top 50 nationals with a confirmed play.fiba3x3.com account.

 
Official Basketball Rules (OBR) and Internal Regulations Amendments

The Central Board gave the green light for a range of changes to be made to the Official Basketball Rules, effective as of October 1, 2020. Click here to find out more. They also approved amendments to the FIBA Internal Regulations, including a new FIBA Code of Conduct. Professor Richard McLaren, former President of the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (2011-2019), has been appointed as FIBA's Integrity Officer. 

Appointments

The Central Board also co-opted two new members to join them, Richard Carriόn and Andrei Kirilenko. 

National Federations

Mexico's suspension is still maintained as the National Federation has not complied with the requirements set by the last Executive Committee meeting.
 
In other matters, the Central Board approved the audited consolidated financial statements for 2019 and received a status update on the preparation of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

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About FIBA
FIBA (fiba.basketball) - the world governing body for basketball - is an independent association formed by 213 National Basketball Federations throughout the world. It is recognized as the sole competent authority in basketball by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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