By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
One day after the meeting with FIBA, which took place in Munich, Jordi Bertomeu, president of Euroleague was present in the “Europa sports press breakfast” in Madrid, where he talked with journalists about the recent developments in the Euroleague – FIBA conflict, while also commenting on the discussions that were held between the two organizations.
“The whole thing is likely to end up on courts. It is already on the European commission”, said Bertomeu. “We can either win or lose, but it will be a disaster if we do not win since it will mean that there wont be a stable regulatory system”.
He continued saying: “FIBA Basketball does not govern basketball in a global scale, as does FIFA in football. NBA governs basketball. The situation is not good. The conflict arises because FIBA wants to do what we have already been doing. I told them: ‘You got us into chaos’. They offered a lot of money to the big clubs and they rejected them. And then FIBA decided to change their mind and make it about sports criteria. The clubs rejected them again. Subsequently, they began threats and warnings. The situations in this context is not comfortable. What I find objectionable is that they have stood between the national federations and the national teams. FIBA made the sport criteria as a flag, but now the results from the qualifying games do not matter because they have a conflict with Euroleague. If Real Madrid plays in Euroleague nothing happens. But if Valencia plays in Eurocup, then they will punish Spain. So is the Euroleague legal and Eurocup, which is organized by the same company, is illegal?”.
Jordi Bertomeu was also very critical on the reaction that most national federations showed towards the threats for sanctions. “I was very surprised by their reactions, if some of them have made an actual reaction. National federations have preferred to look the other way and chose to pure pressure on the weaker (obviously meaning the teams). They have not gone to court, nor have gone to FIBA to tell them that this cannot be done. But if they do not do it, we will do it ourselves”.