Jordi Bertomeu: Participants of ULEB cup and Euroleague will have to play the Goodyear league

At the press conference organised in Zagreb during the Final Four Mr. Jordi Bertomeu, Eurolegaue's CEO, confirmed that all the clubs from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro which will compete in ULEB cup and Euroleague in the future, will have to play also in Goodyear league. He also expressed great satisfaction with the development of the Goodyear league, saying that the decision was a logical consequence, since Goodzear league became very stable and consolidated project. Besides, it was confirmed Maccabi will not play in Goodyear league in the next season, when the Final Four will be held in Belgrade. Another change also came in the competition system since the best eight teams from the regular season will play for the final trophy.

Jordi Bertomeu: Participants of ULEB cup and Euroleague will have to play the Goodyear league

Mr. Bertomeu also added:

- First I would like to thank our friends Rado Lorbek, Roman Lisac, Josip Bilic and ...... for their kind invitation to the Final Four. This is a good way to improve our friendship and extend partnership with our partners sharing the same philosophy. Our projects are based on three main criteria: Professional management, key role of the clubs and good cooperation with the national federations. We had a meeting in January when we agreed on development goals. Consolidation of the ULEB and making it more integrated, as well as increase in membership. Integration means more compatibilty with member of ULEB. League is responsible for its clubs and clubs participating in our competitions come from our Leagues, this requesting better ties between clubs and the League.

Second important decision is to help leagues in matters with which they cannot deal alone. Organisation of marketing, improvement of refereeing and communications strategies.

Furthermore, we will help leagues in their eventual problems with third parties. We have two problems now. One of them is the decision by FIBA to conclude competitions in October, clashing with start of our competitions. Another problem is that FIBA cancelled the licences for referees in its official competitions. Therefore, the best referees will be out of the most important World competitions.

We already finished ULEB cup and we are very satisfied how it worked this season, but realistically, we can improve it even more. We had a meeting with clubs in Charleroi and we have all the tools now to improve this competition. Maybe ULEB cup will have even more teams for the next season, but the system of the competition will stay the same. It is also interesting that already two countries are interested in organising the Final Four.

Regarding Euroleague we cannot make any evaluation until the end of the season. We will have a meeting with club representatives in Tel Aviv, discussing the possible changes in Euroleague.