An agreement was reached on Tuesday in Belgrade between the Adriatic League, the Basketball Federation of Serbia and Montenegro and some of the most important clubs of the country in relation to a new configuration for the regional competition. The mediation of Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu during the meetings has proven decisive for the agreement, which guarantees the participation of the best teams from Serbia and Montenegro in the Adriatic League. The agreement calls for the Adriatic League to expand to 16 teams for next season only, 2004-05, with the competition returning to a 14-team structure for the 2005-06 season. The distribution of the 16 teams who play the next edition of the Adriatic League is as follows: 5 teams from Serbia and Montenegro, 5 from Croatia, 4 from Slovenia and 2 from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The reestablishment of the 14-team structure will be based on a formula that divides each country’s total victories in 2004-05 by the number of participating teams from that country.

At the conclusion of the meetings, the President of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, joined a press conference to express his satisfaction with the outcome. Marovic thanked the Union of European Basketball Leagues (ULEB) for its mediation. ‘The capacity for dialogue and the capacity for compromise demonstrated here today have allowed this agreement to be reached,’ Marovic said, ‘an agreement that without a willingness to meet and talk would not have been possible.’ Among the participants in the meetings were Serbia and Montengro Basketball Association president Miodrag Babic, YUBA League director Nebojsa Covic, Adriatic League president Radovan Lorbek and Partizan Mobtel president Vlade Divac.

For more details contact:

Javier Gancedo
Euroleague Media Department
www.euroleague.net
www.ulebcup.com
email: javier.gancedo@euroleague.net
AIM: javigancedo
Telephone: +34 93 327 84 24
Fax: +34 93 327 84 27