Season’s Greetings

Time to look back at an incredible 2024

Dear basketball family,

Another year has passed by at high speed. The question is – were we able to influence the course decisively and achieve our goals? In a few days we will start the NEW YEAR, so the time has come to take a quick look back at 2024.

We can look back to many highlights, like the Paralympics in Paris, which were very successful for Europe. Congratulations to the Dutch women’s team, who won gold, and to the two men’s teams from Great Britain and Germany for silver and bronze.

I would also like to highlight the first official wheelchair basketball European Championship 3X3 in Vienna. It was the first 100% inclusive event worldwide with the European Championship in runner basketball, in close cooperation with FIBA, which was a great success. Special thanks go to Andreas Zaglis GS FIBA and Johannes Wiesmann Project Manager Austrian Basketball Association.

The European Championship Men B in Sarajevo was also very successful – congratulations to Switzerland and Bosnia Herzegovina for their promotion to the A division.

Our U23 teams also showed top class at the European Championships in Madrid, which was also a qualifying tournament for the U23 World Championships 2025 in Sao Paulo. I wish the qualified teams every success at the 2025 World Championships: Great Britain, Germany, Turkey, Italy and Israel.

We can also be proud of the partnership with the BIG – Basketball Inclusive Games – project, which is funded by the European Union and led by the Bulgarian association. This development project is an important step towards developing wheelchair basketball in new countries with the help of coaches, referees and seminars.

As always, we were able to hold our European club competitions very successfully at the highest level, with a fantastic Champions Cup final in Albacete.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation and gratitude for your work and commitment. The fact that the individual wheels of the IWBF Europe organization mesh together is your merit, your work in the federations, in the clubs, the work of the coaches, referee, classifier ITO`s and last but not least the athletes and the work of thousands of volunteers. You are the key to success.

I would also like to thank my board and especially Petr Tucek for their work and commitment and for the great support I receive as president.

For the new year I wish PEACE and all the best to you and your families, good health and continued enjoyment of our beloved sport.

A NEW YEAR

means new hope, new thoughts

and new ways to achieve our goals

Walter Pfaller
President IWBF Europe