Mijailovic: Send Monaco Through ABA 2, Assembly Saturday

The Tivoli Hall, the very place where it all started exactly a quarter century ago. On Friday, September 4, the entire ABA League leadership gathered in Ljubljana, and Ostoja Mijailovic, the league’s president and the man who sits at the head of the table on behalf of twelve owner clubs, faced the press. A day before the year’s most important session, the one that will pick a new sporting director, Mijailovic publicly addressed, for the first time, everything that had stirred up the region in the preceding days, from Crvena zvezda’s demand to the fate of Monaco.

The celebration of 25 years of the league is being held in Ljubljana for a reason. A quarter century ago, four clubs, Buducnost, Bosna, Cedevita and Olimpija, launched the competition from this same city, and it has since grown into one of the strongest in Europe. Mijailovic underlined that point, speaking on behalf of clubs that, as he put it, are equal regardless of budget.

The figures he presented describe a league that has recovered financially. Revenue over the past year reached 6.4 million euros, 18 percent higher than the year before, with profit exceeding 2.5 million. This is the second year in a row that clubs have shared a dividend, distributed equally regardless of where a club finishes in the standings.

“This league is doing well, revenue is up 18 percent, 6.4 million euros, we are distributing a dividend,” Mijailovic said.

There is also a detail few outside the league’s leadership know. The league holds Euroleague shares that were worth 30,000 Swiss francs at the time of acquisition and are now valued at tens of millions of euros. Those shares belong to the clubs, which is why Mijailovic insists that all twelve carry equal voting weight, no matter which club is in question.

“We are 12 clubs and every club has the same value in its vote,” the league president said.

The Assembly session was originally scheduled for Friday but has been moved to Saturday at 9 a.m. The reason is logistical: delegation flights due to arrive in Ljubljana on time were delayed.

“We were supposed to hold the Assembly, but because of technical issues, flights were delayed,” Mijailovic explained.

Saturday’s session agenda also includes the election of a new sporting director. The position has been vacant since Milija Vojinovic, after seven years in the role and despite having just had his mandate extended, suddenly resigned two weeks ago. The league immediately opened a public call for his successor.

“The sporting director suddenly resigned. We opened a public call,” Mijailovic said.

The election of the new sporting director is precisely the issue at the center of the dispute with Crvena zvezda. A day earlier, on September 3, we reported that the red and white club had publicly demanded the removal of the current director, Dubravko Kmetovic, and that the session had been postponed as a result. In Ljubljana, Mijailovic responded publicly to that demand for the first time, without an open confrontation but without any concession either.

“What Crvena zvezda is dissatisfied with, I really would not want to comment on publicly,” the ABA League president said curtly, leaving the matter to be debated at the session itself.

The other major topic was Monaco’s request to join the competition. The club, relegated from the elite tier of French basketball and out of the Eurocup, approached the ABA League seeking a place in ABA 1. Mijailovic made clear that is not feasible this season, since the competition calendar is already set, but he left the door open for next year.

“Monaco reached out about playing in the ABA League. It is not possible for them to join the ABA League, my proposal will be to attach them to the ABA2 league. We will discuss that at the assembly, my proposal will be for them to go through the ABA2 league and possibly join the ABA1 league next year. I wish that club nothing but the best, I personally know people in their management and I am sorry for what they went through.”

The proposal, then, is for Monaco to spend a year in the ABA 2 league, the region’s second tier, and only after that possibly earn a place among the elite. The Assembly will decide on Saturday.

There was also talk of the NBA Europe project, an increasingly loud topic in European basketball. Mijailovic did not want to take a firm stance there, saying the league is following the situation but that no official position has been adopted yet. In his words, the Euroleague remains the strongest competition on the continent and the ABA League the second strongest, and that is not changing for now regardless of how NBA Europe develops.

Saturday at 9 a.m. is now the date that will settle everything, both the name of the new sporting director and the final outcome of Monaco’s request. Until then, the dispute with Crvena zvezda remains open, and Mijailovic made clear he will seek answers around the same table where all the clubs sit, not through public statements.