By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiejunas discussed several topics in the aftermath of the latest meeting of the shareholders and the key decisions that were made regarding financial fair play and the expansion of the teams to 20 starting from the 2025-26 season.
“I think the upcoming season we focus on three main elements: Growth, stability, and purpose,” Motiejunas said in his opening statement during a remote press conference. “We announced that we’re going to 20 teams next season. It’s a huge step for us as a competition. It doesn’t seem much, but it’s also a geographical expansion. It’s more games in total. More games for the teams. But it’s a well-thought-out and calculated decision. We really look forward to that.”
“We took a brave decision last season to move the final four outside the European market,” Motiejunas added. “We’re really happy with the outcome that we had. We open new markets. We open the market in the Middle East even more with Dubai joining the competition.”
Here’s what Motiejunas also said on:
The new calendar after the expansion to 20 teams, and how it affects FIBA’s national team windows and player fatigue:
“It’s clear that the talks are only with European competitions. In all the meetings with FIBA and all the meetings with the NBA, it’s never been raised that NBA players will stop and go to play in the [national team] Windows. The window issue itself is not only a EuroLeague issue. It’s a general basketball community issue. It involves all competitions, domestic as well as the EuroLeague.
Last couple of years, we opened the Window in February. We kept it open for two years. The weekends are taken by domestic competitions. Eurobasket finishes really late, so we can’t start the season earlier. We try to figure out what we can do. We have had many discussions with FIBA and Andreas Zagklis about what we can do.
You saw in the calendar that we’re shifting the games from Tuesday – Thursday in November to keep that Window open. We analyzed the idea of doing that in February as well, but then we have the domestic cups. After the cups, in some countries, teams play three games in four days. And they finish on Sunday. If we do the game on Tuesday-Wednesday, players will play four or five games in six days. It’s physically impossible to do that. We’re taking into account ELPA, teams, and doctors. The expansion decision was taken, calculating everything
We’ve shown flexibility, and we want to show flexibility. We mentioned that to FIBA. We’ll remain flexible on bringing back the February Window. It was impossible to do that this season. It’s unfortunate that so many things add up. I really believe we will find the solution. We’ll try to find it. We all have to look in the same direction. Domestic leagues, federations, and so on.
We’ve been in contact with FIBA multiple times, working on the calendar. That’s why we still respect one window. Not February but November. The clubs made a decision. We have to protect the players. We’re waiting for their reactions. We informed them about the decision we made. I know they are busy and there’s Eurobasket Women going on. It’s a weekly discussion with them, not only about the calendar but other issues we’re working on together. It’s a collaboration. And I really believe that. We’re going to continue working together to find a solution to many issues.”
NBA Europe – cooperation between the NBA and the EuroLeague:
“We had a very constructive meeting with the NBA. We checked Adam Silver’s conference, saying that the project will probably be moved, starting in 2028. It’s tangible progress. We’re trying to understand and see more of the plan, if it’s in the head, or what opportunities they’re exploring. It’s clear that what we don’t want is fragmentation. That’s the main thing we need to avoid. We should care about fans and care about the product.
The other message we keep saying is that we are open to collaborating. There’s no need to create a new league. There’s the EuroLeague that’s open to work together. That’s why I really believe the only chance to move forward is to focus on what the clubs have already created here. The vision we see and what we hear it’s more or less in line with what we’re doing right now. Clubs that are stable, clubs that come from secondary competitions to play, clubs dropping out, clubs that are involved in management, etc. That’s what we’ve been doing for 25 years. Let’s sit down, collaborate, and work on how we open new markets that we are focusing on already.
I really believe and I know that we have the best European product created. I don’t see why somebody should try to create something new when we could go together and work on unlocking opportunities together. We are open to collaborating. Great meeting. We’ll have another meeting, hopefully this summer. I remain very optimistic that together we can do much more than fragmented and separately.”
The status of Israeli clubs (Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv in the EuroLeague, along with Hapoel Jerusalem in the EuroCup) amid the war with Iran:
“I’m happy we have quite some time until the start of the season. Being optimistic, we believe the situation will settle and peace will come. We’ve been saying the same with Ukraine. We continue to monitor the situation. The main thing is safety. Safety of teams, of fans. We’re going to monitor the situation. At the moment when we look and plan the season, we continue to talk with clubs that will play games in a neutral venue. If the situation doesn’t calm down, we’ll need to make decisions to protect the teams, fans, players, coaches, and everyone around the game.”
I need to have some psychic powers to see what the future is. I really don’t put in my head the scenario where we don’t have Israeli teams. It’s Maccabi, Hapoel Tel Aviv, and Hapoel Jerusalem. Our main priority is safety. Our advantage is that we have time, and we have to be optimistic. Saying that, we are in touch with all other sports organizations and FIBA. We’re trying to analyze what FIFA will do. Let’s hope that everything will be better, calmer, and safer. Step one is that they play in neutral venues, playing outside Israel. Step two, if there’s peace in the world and it’s safe, we need to respect the fans of each country and each team. It’s the priority of the clubs and the league to go back to the arenas.”
If Serbian clubs can hope for permanent contracts:
“We understand that looking at the whole picture of the EuroLeague. It’ll change. Now it’s 20 teams, but we’re looking at opportunities to grow more. It’s step by step. We’re looking at opportunities to grow more. They [Serbian clubs] have been part of the EuroLeague for many years. How we see them permanently, or what decisions will be made to keep them even longer than three years, of course, we’ll work on that. But we need to understand that there are also Valencia, Virtus Bologna, Monaco, and other clubs that want to be part of the EuroLeague forever, or permanently.
When I say permanently, the first on the list is, of course, Paris Basketball. We had discussions with them to have them as permanent members.
The [Serbian] clubs are doing a great thing. Every year, I think they’re getting better. Focusing on financial stability, focusing on ticket sales, and following the regulations. There are things we can improve, and we are also constantly talking to both clubs. But yes, we are happy. I believe the atmosphere that they are creating, the fans are creating, and the derbies… We need to not forget the Greek teams as well, the Spanish derbies which have been shown in the Rivalry Series that we had, and what’s happening in Belgrade, it’s really a great atmosphere. So happy, but always not completely satisfied. So we’re talking with the clubs on how we can continue to grow. But I think the reason they have now a three-year wildcard is because we are happy and we see the potential with those clubs.”
Monaco potentially becoming a permanent member:
“Monaco is still playing as a former EuroCup champion. This is one more year that we have two clubs from EuroCup -Hapoel Tel Aviv and Monaco. That’s why we focused on the season as it is. Rest assured, we value what Monaco and its owner have done very much. We are in talks with the club. We see them in the league in the future, and we will go step by step. There’s no doubt that they’ll stay in the EuroLeague for many years. They have one more year, according to previous rules, to stay as EuroCup champions. We didn’t want to change this, and we wanted to follow that rule instead of extending the contract. But this is pending, and we’ll continue to talk about that. We’re positive that we’ll keep them in the EuroLeague after 2025-26.
We see Monaco in the EuroLeague in the future. If they want to be here permanently, of course, they need the arena. We won’t commit, and the clubs won’t commit with only promises or discussions. We are here as a league to help them get the process going in any way possible. We are here to help them start the arena. Now we have to work hand in hand with the timing.”
The 2026 Final Four and future tournaments will be taking place in Abu Dhabi again:
“We’ll make the decision much faster than we did last year. Last year was an exception. We return to Europe in 2026, and then we have an option to return to Abu Dhabi in 2027. Everybody is very satisfied with Abu Dhabi. The feedback is that it was the best Final Four. We are in talks with them on how to make the next event better. Because that was just the first one.”
The departure of ALBA Berlin from the EuroLeague for FIBA’s Basketball Champions League and the market in Germany:
“We’re not paying less attention or trying to cover up with other markets for the loss [of ALBA] in Germany. We have a great club in Bayern Munich that is the locomotive of growing the market there. We have three German clubs in EuroCup, which shows we really believe there’s a lot of potential.
We have to respect ALBA’s decision. it’s very sad that fans in Berlin won’t be able to see the Euroleague. But this is the club’s decision. The league has been supporting the club for many, many years. We’ve been in partnership. We’ve been supportive on and off the court with growing the club and trying to get them to a competitive level. But they chose what they chose. Again, going back to the German market, it’s one of the fastest-growing markets, together with France. It grew 46 percent in the last six years. We remain committed to strengthening our presence in Germany.”
Turkish clubs in a potential future expansion:
“Why not. We have Bahcesehir, which had an amazing season also in the Eurocup. We have two more teams playing in the EuroCup next season. There’s Galatasaray as well. It’s a great market. We have strong teams like Fenerbahce – the champion, and Efes, whose owner had amazing support for he league. Expanding and having the Turkish market grow is an option.”
There are other teams who want to join. We have a shareholder [CSKA Moscow] who is suspended and not playing.”
Possibilities of change in format if there’s an expansion beyond 20 teams:
We know that the Round-robin system can’t go above 20 teams. We have done these calculations and we’ve talked about it with ELPA. If we go above 20 teams, the system will change. It will be done with conferences. We’re still going to have every team playing with each other. We don’t want to go back to the draws.”