Liolios: “We have to make the changes that basketball society needs”

The plan of the Federation and the changes that have been launched, he analyzed on the EEC Web Radio o Vangelis Liolios.

The president of the EEC spoke about the corrective action which are expected to take place on national basketball categoriesfor changes in the regulations of the transfer period, for participations through wild cards, while he revealed that the Cup finals Men’s and Women’s will be held on the same day and at the same stadium.

What was discussed in detail:



For the Federation’s ongoing plan: “The Federation has set a plan for the coming years, which it implements year after year, because if we did everything from the first year, all this volume of information and changes could not be perceived. Already the ones we have done in the first year have not been assimilated by all the groups well, because they are at different levels. But because we have to move forward at a fast pace, we have to make the changes that society, basketball society, European basketball society needs and we have to understand where we are, where we are going and why we are doing them”.

For the changes to the transfer window rules: “This year we have made three kinds of changes, in three directions, which are for all teams, but to a different degree for each team. The first part that is done, the immediate part, is regarding the transfer landscape. Last year we had the transfer period until August 30, while now we have it until September 15, where the teams’ endurance has already been tested, the digital ticket is working, so there is no reason to convince the teams in time”.

“The second is that we have made several improvement moves in the institution of the double ticket and the affiliated teams, where it started last year. We saw last year the positives and the negatives and now we are going to “dissolve” what was negative, to put safeguards both in the institution of the double ticket and in the institution of the affiliated teams, so that opportunities are given to the young children to play, without this happening championship tampering tool. That is why there have been several changes in this direction, because we listened very well to what the teams were experiencing and what problems they were facing from what we had put in place”.

“The third is that we have started from this year and next year it will be much more intense, a targeted reduction of the fees. We now see that the Federation is able to put into practice everything it has promised with the smaller financial contribution of the teams in this part. Don’t forget that all these fees do not go to the Federation, but go to a separate fund that supports the groups that are in critical and island areas, which we need”.

“We saw how the Elite League piloted, we took the positives, we improved the class quite a bit and got some good changes and took them to the rest of the classes. The first thing we have done is that we have gone electronic match sheets in all the national championships. The goal of the Federation is that in three years from now everything will be digital. In this we also have the possibility to have the participation time of the athletes, which helps us to introduce another successful institution, the financial support of all the teams, but on a basis, as long as these teams help in the development part of Federation. More young kids are getting involved in playing real space in the leagues. The total budget we have this year for all categories for this part is 960 thousand euros, where with this we strengthen these teams, but in the axis of the participation of young sportsmen and women. We want to do real development and not formula”.



“Another part is that all the participants within the four lines will have an electronic card through the Hellenic Federation registry, so that we know who is inside the playing field. What happened in the past was that sometimes whoever wanted sat on the bench, created issues and we didn’t know who it was. Responsible for this will be the old commissioner who is now technical delegate. Essentially what we need and the time has come is the training of the old commissioners, with responsibilities as they are in FIBA ​​and this means that for us they are our ears, our eyes to know at all times what is happening and we will have an electronic report as soon as the match is over. This person will be responsible for checking whether all the people inside and outside the playing field help the smooth development of a match.”



For Elite League and A1 Women: “All the matches of the Elite League and 90% of the A1 Women’s will be shown live through the EEC channel or by some other television medium, as well as selected matches of the other national categories. Until we reach a time where all the matches of the national categories are shown through the EEC channel”.

For the wild cards in the national categories: “Until before, when there were vacancies, we arrived in September to find out which teams made up the national categories. So from the first moment we said that we will put a wild card based on specific criteria that have already been given. The pool of teams willing to participate has already been opened and now with the declarations of participation we see who is participating, where there are gaps, the Board of Directors will meet, it will see the gaps, there will be an appropriate time for the teams to submit the supporting documents and the choice will be made with complete transparency as to who will fill these gaps. The criteria are competitive, geographical, they have to do with the structure of the team, the plan and of course these teams will present it to us. There we have also put another valve, which says that the team should give a guarantee. 50% of the guarantee will go to the other teams in the group, because when you give a wild card to a team it means that the other teams have to make an extra trip, so that promoted team will have to offer them at least that expense. In this way, the teams must understand that when they participate in a higher category that they did not win competitively, they will help the other teams in some financial way. In fact, we have also found a way as a Federation, this will be announced, where this money will go to the teams with full justice. There will be a proportionality of the money that will go to the teams, depending on the mileage income. So we also introduce a new concept, the kilometer equivalent”.

For the Cup finals: “There is one more change that is very nice for me. The Women’s Cup final will take place on the same day, at the same venue, on the same pitch as the Men’s Cup final. The two finals will be together, which shows the gravity and how important women’s basketball is to us. We should now raise it, let it enter the world, watch it, love it and get even closer to it, something we need”.

For Rising Stars: “The bulk of the changes are developmental. The first is that the institution of Rising Stars is increasing with the participation of an extra 16 teams from all over Greece, where they will give qualifiers to participate there. The second one has to do with the fact that we have a Rising Stars pilot for girls as well, since it was very successful for boys.”.