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Secretary General

ANDREAS ZAGKLIS

Born in Greece in 1980, Andreas Zagklis, a “true basketball person” – as FIBA President Horacio Muratore (2014-2019) called him – and a leading international sports lawyer was unanimously appointed FIBA Secretary General in December 2018. In December 2022, the Central Board unanimously extended his contract until 2031. Strongly influenced by the successes of the Greek national team in the late 80s and 90s, Zagklis combined his passion for basketball with his legal and sports management studies from an early stage, starting his association with basketball's world governing body in 2007.  

As FIBA's fourth Secretary General, Zagklis has been in charge of developing and implementing an eight-year strategy for the cycle 2019 – 2027 that was approved by the FIBA Congress in 2019. After leading FIBA in the successful delivery of its flagship men's event, the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China, Zagklis has helped the organization navigate challenging times brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and its ever-changing landscape, which has included the successful debut of 3x3 Basketball at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. 

Zagklis has advanced the agenda of empowering National Federations through the worldwide roll-out of the FIBA PLUS development program and the coordination of the Federation's education activities under the FIBA Academy umbrella. He has also led FIBA in further shaping the global structure of Club competitions, with the launch of the Basketball Champions League Americas and the West Asia Super League, the innovative private equity deal which gave birth to the FIBA ClubCo, in charge of the Basketball Champions League in Europe and the FIBA Intercontinental Cup; and the first-ever agreement with the NBA for a league outside North America, which resulted in the creation of their joint venture for the Basketball Africa League (BAL). 

Zagklis has guided the organization through a methodical repositioning of women in basketball, with the expansion of the Women’s World Cup and the development of a competition pathway for a record number of women’s national teams worldwide; the launch of the FIBA 3x3 Women's Series and the subsequent multi-fold increase of the prize money; the amendments of the FIBA General Statutes that guarantee the most-ever female representation within FIBA as of 2023; and the highest-ever number of female officials holding a FIBA license. Innovation initiatives undertaken by FIBA during his tenure include the creation of the FIBA Esports competitions in collaboration with the NBA and 2K and the launch of the new digital platform, Courtside 1891. 

He received his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from the Law School of the University of Athens, with two semesters spent as a visiting student and researcher at the Universities of Salamanca, Spain and Western Ontario, Canada, respectively. He also completed the postgraduate management program on Olympic Studies at the International Olympic Academy and attended the Leadership in Corporate Counsel program at the Harvard Law School, USA. 

In his professional career, he advised basketball players, coaches and clubs and acted as an assistant to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in three Olympic Games (2004, 2006, 2008). He practiced next to the pioneer sports lawyers Pantelis Dedes (Greece, 2004-2008) and Dirk-Reiner Martens (Germany, 2008-2016) before his appointment by Patrick Baumann to head the FIBA Legal Department which oversaw the legal operations of all FIBA's entities around the world. Zagklis was a member of the working group that prepared the governance changes adopted by the extraordinary FIBA Congress in 2014. 

In 2020, the International Olympic Committee appointed Zagklis as a member of the Coordination Commission for the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028. 

He has published numerous scientific articles in the areas of good governance, dispute resolution and commercial rights in sports. He also frequently lectures on the management of sporting events and sports law at the Universities of Neuchatel and Zurich in Switzerland. 

Zagklis was a basketball player for the clubs of Maroussi BC and Melissia BC, as well as a youth coach, and club administrator in Greece. 

He speaks English, Spanish, German, French, and Greek. 

Zagklis is married and has two daughters. 

 

Former Secretaries General

Patrick Baumann (2003 - 2018)

  • PATRICK BAUMANN † 
    (1967 - 2018)

    FIBA Secretary General from 2003 to 2018 
    Nationality: Swiss 

    Patrick Baumann, a Swiss national, first joined FIBA as a lawyer in 1994 and was appointed as FIBA Deputy Secretary General in 1995.

    In 2002, Mr. Baumann was unanimously appointed by the FIBA Central Board as FIBA Secretary General as of January 2003 and maintained this role until his sudden and unexpected death in late 2018. Mr. Baumann was at the forefront of FIBA making radical changes to its governance structure, successfully building and moving into its own state-of-the-art headquarters outside of Geneva as well as launching 3x3, its urban discipline which became a part of basketball’s program at the Olympics.

    He had an MBA from the Business School of the University of Chicago, a Masters in Sports Administration Management (MEMOS) from the University of Lyon in France and a law degree from the University of Lausanne. He spoke five languages.

    Mr. Baumann became a member of the International Olympic Committee in 2007 and participated as a member of the IOC Evaluation Commissions for the Olympic Games 2008 and 2020, and of the Coordination Commission for the 2012 Olympic Games. He was also a member of various other IOC Commissions.

    Mr. Baumann was appointed to the International Advisory Board of the World Academy of Sport in 2009. In 2010 he became a member of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS), was elected as a Council member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) in 2011 and was re-elected in 2015. Also beginning in 2013, he served as a member of the Foundation Board of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and President of the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee.

    In April 2016, Mr. Baumann was elected President of SportAccord (now GAISF).

    He was a basketball player, coach and referee in Switzerland and Italy.

    On October 13, 2018, Mr. Baumann suffered a sudden heart attack while attending the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and passed away.

    He is survived by his wife and two children.

    FIBA renamed its headquarters to the Patrick Baumann House of Basketball in honor of Mr. Baumann and in April 2020, it was announced that Mr. Baumann was to be posthumously inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

  • BORISLAV STANKOVIC †
    (1925 - 2020)

    FIBA Secretary General Emeritus from 2002 to 2020
    FIBA Secretary General from 1976 to 2002
    Nationality: Serbian 

    FIBA Secretary General between 1976 and 2003, Borislav Stankovic is known simply as "Mr. Basketball".

    Mr. Stankovic was born on July 9, 1925 in Yugoslavia, in the city of Bihac (modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina).

    He was involved with sport from an early age, focusing his efforts on tennis and table tennis until the discovery of basketball in his teenage years.

    He studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Belgrade, with basketball rapidly becoming his number one passion. During his studies, he won two national titles with Red Star Belgrade.

    As a player, he was selected to represent Yugoslavia on 36 occasions, including at the inaugural FIBA Basketball World Cup in 1950 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

    A member of the Central Board of the Yugoslavian Basketball Federation (YBF) from 1953, Mr. Stankovic moved up the ranks of national and international sports administration rapidly, being appointed Vice-Secretary General of FIBA in 1960 and becoming YBF Secretary General in 1966.

    This was also the year he pledged his efforts to basketball full-time, ending a 10-year career as a veterinary inspector for meat control in Belgrade.

    In 1976, Mr. Stankovic succeeded William Jones to become FIBA's second Secretary General, a position he would hold for 28 years.

    During his time at the helm of FIBA, he is credited with countless achievements, the most significant of which are perhaps continually working towards building bridges between East and West during the Cold War, and bringing world basketball into the modern era in 1992, when professionals and NBA players took part in the top-level international competition for the first time at the Barcelona Olympics.

    Beyond basketball, he sat on or chaired numerous IOC and international sporting committees and commissions.

    The efforts and contributions of Borislav Stankovic have been recognized with countless awards and merits all over the world.

    On March 20, 2020, FIBA Secretary General Emeritus Borislav Stankovic passed away. He was 94 years old.

    He is survived by one daughter, two granddaughters and two great-grandchildren.

  • WILLIAM JONES †
    (1906 - 1981)

    FIBA Secretary General Emeritus from 1976 to 1981
    FIBA Secretary General from 1932 to 1976 
    Nationality: British 

    FIBA's first Secretary General, William Jones took up the role in 1932 and held the position for 44 years, until 1976.

    Born on October 5, 1906, in Rome, Italy, to a British father and an Italian mother, Mr. Jones assumed British citizenship. After receiving his schooling in Rome, he traveled to the United States and attended Springfield College in Massachusetts, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1928.

    Mr. Jones furthered his education by attending the German College of Physical Education, in Berlin, Germany (1929 and 1930), the Niels Bukh School of Physical Education, in Denmark (1929) and the Royal Institute in Stockholm, Sweden (1930). Also in 1930, he obtained a Certificate in Pedagogy from the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

    Mr. Jones co-founded FIBA on June 18, 1932, in Geneva, Switzerland.

    Early in his tenure as Secretary General, Mr. Jones led the way for basketball to become an Olympic Sport, which it was for the first time at the Berlin Games in 1936. The year before, FIBA had held the first EuroBasket in Geneva.

    Fourteen years after the first Olympic basketball tournament, the inaugural FIBA Basketball World Cup was staged in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

    Mr. Jones was also Secretary General when the FIBA Intercontinental Cup was officially launched in Madrid, Spain, in 1966.

    Mr. Jones 'efforts helped spread basketball to more than 130 countries through games and clinics.

    Outside of FIBA, Mr. Jones held other important positions. From 1931-1939, he was Director of Physical Education in Rome's YMCA while from 1940-1956, he served as European Secretary of the YMCA World Alliance in Geneva, Switzerland.

    From 1956-1966, Mr. Jones was Director of the UNESCO Youth Institute in Gauting, Germany, and from 1957-1968, he served as Secretary General of the International Council of Sports and Physical Education.

    The efforts and contributions of Mr. Jones saw him recognized with numerous awards and distinctions, including induction to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1964 and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.

    Mr. Jones, who served as FIBA Secretary General Emeritus from 1976 to 1981, died on April 22, 1981, in Munich, Germany. He was 74.