Ostoja Mijailović and Dubravko Kmetović address media at press conference in Ljubljana

PHOTO GALLERY

ABA League j.t.d. President Ostoja Mijailović and ABA League j.t.d. Director Dubravko Kmetović have been the speakers in front of numerous media guests in the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Ljubljana and they discussed various topics, such as the 25th anniversary of the ABA League, the actual matters related to the competitions under ABA League j.t.d. umbrella and future challenges.

Ostoja Mijailović, ABA League j.t.d. President:

“Thank you for coming in such great numbers to our 25th birthday celebration of the ABA League. There is a special reason why we are all here today in Ljubljana: exactly 25 years ago, in the Tivoli Hall—where we will later hold the ceremonial part of today's event—the ABA League was launched. The ABA League was born in this city, and we wanted to thank this city and all those people differently, that is, in a special way, for bringing us to the situation today where the ABA League is no longer just a regional league; it has become one of the strongest basketball leagues in Europe.

It is my honor today, on behalf of Basketball Club Partizan, to represent the 12 clubs that own the ABA League, to speak before you at this venue, and it is truly a special opportunity to celebrate 25 years from this spot, where over all 25 years we have worked together to help this league grow beyond the borders of former Yugoslavia and reach a different European standard.

Today, the ABA League is desirable to many clubs. Many clubs are reaching out and wanting to play in the ABA League. We have accepted some, we are considering some, and some are in the process of, let's say, development, so we returned those projects because we think they are not developed enough to join the ABA League. And the ABA League has an important policy that we all nurture together: to respect our core foundation. Our 12 clubs within the ABA League are respected regardless of their size. But this league has been operating very well for years. We increased our revenues by 18% compared to last year. Our revenues are somewhere around 6.4 million euros. What I can proudly say is that for the second year in a row, we are distributing a dividend to the clubs. Our profit was slightly under 2.5 million euros last year. We will distribute that dividend equally to all clubs.

Some clubs with smaller budgets even cover 30% of their current budgets from the ABA League dividend, and that truly is our mission. In fact, a league is not as strong as its strongest team at the top of the table, but as strong as the one at the bottom of the table. That is the way for the league to continue growing and developing.

Today, we were supposed to have the Assembly of the company scheduled for this morning at 9:00 AM. However, due to technical issues, the important Assembly scheduled for today has been moved to tomorrow at 9:00 AM. At that Assembly, we will elect a sports director and the entire management responsible for the quality of officiating. We had a situation where the sports director unexpectedly submitted his resignation a couple of weeks ago. We are starting the season and did not expect his resignation. The Presidency immediately reacted through an urgent procedure—because the Presidency serves precisely for such urgent matters when the Assembly cannot quickly convene, as the Assembly is the primary body—and we issued a public call. What we want to do tomorrow is to select the highest-quality, most objective people who will, in accordance with our rules prescribed by the league, manage the league and its processes so that all clubs have, let's say, equal conditions to compete in the league.

I want to thank all the sponsors who have supported this league for years. I want to thank Arena Sport, namely Telekom Srbija as their founder, for supporting this league for years. They have supported us for years and shown understanding for everything, so they are an important partner to us, and I want to give them special thanks.

Also, I must mention that we have top-tier cooperation with the EuroLeague. What is very important for you to know—and this hasn't been public until now; it is news—is that the ABA League owns a certain number of shares in the EuroLeague, which the ABA League acquired several decades ago; it wasn't yesterday. Those shares were paid for for less than 50,000 Swiss francs, and today those shares are worth several tens of millions of euros. Those tens of millions of euros today belong to the owners of the ABA League, namely these 12 clubs in the ownership structure.

What is also important to note is that for European clubs, the ABA League represents a supreme opportunity. By entering the ABA League two years ago, we helped Dubai develop a European project that has truly grown into a top-tier sports project. By joining the ABA League, they managed to carry out their idea and mission, showing European basketball and the biggest European giants that they can compete and possess an organization capable of being competent—reaching a level in just two years to compete with the biggest clubs.”

Dubravko Kmetović, ABA League j.t.d. Director:

“Following up on the words of the President of the ABA League, we can only confirm the optimism we feel within the organization itself and within the competition itself. It is clear that the quality of both the basketball and the business aspect of the league—or rather, the leagues, because in our system we have 37 clubs; let's not forget the second ABA League and the U19 ABA League Championship—so that entire system has been functioning very successfully for years now, and as we heard, very profitably.

The idea from the management's side is to continuously improve the quality over time, both in a sporting sense, by attracting new clubs and expanding the ABA League in that qualitative sense, but naturally also in business. Meaning, it is to be expected that in the future we could achieve even better financial results, all to the benefit of the owners, but I would also say to the benefit of basketball overall.”