Newsletter EUBC by President Franco Falcinelli – May/June 2019

Dear European Boxing Friends,

we have spent two unforgettable months for the extraordinary events that have marked the life and future of AIBA and our beloved sport.

The IOC’s historic decision to suspend AIBA as Olympic Federation, the AIBA Extraordinary Executive Committee in Geneve and a lot of requests about the clarification on the Olympic Qualifications after the IOC proposal…… Despite these sad facts, Olympic boxing continues to offer memorable events like the European Games/EUBC Elite Men European Championships 2019.

Moreover, the presence at the Finals in Minsk of a great leader of Russia, President Vladimir Putin, is a great gesture of support for the entire international and Olympic boxing movement.

Thank you President Putin!

AIBA EC Extraordinary Meeting in Geneve, 27/6/2019

An important AIBA Extraordinary Executive Committee Meeting  was held on 27 June in Geneva. AIBA interim President Mohamed Moustahsane has put on the agenda a long series of important topics that have been faced with great seriousness and commitment by all the members of the EC. The points that showed great interest and a profound debate were related to the most important financial situation.

To show that I have kept faith to the meetings I took in Minsk during the European Games with some EUBC EC Members and Federation’s Presidents, please find below my speech addressed to the AIBA Executive Committee that was attended by authoritative presence of IOC Member Mr. Nenad Lalovic and the IOC Sports Director, Kit McConnell, which had words of support and encouragement for the great commitment that awaits the AIBA in the action of regaining its credibility and its precious role in the Olympic movement.

 Dear President and  Colleagues, Dear Mr. Lalovic and Mr. McConnell,

following the conclusion of the IOC Inquiry Committee we have no choice but to accept the withdrawal of the recognition of AIBA as an International Federation by the IOC. However, taking into account the interests of both the sport of boxing and the athletes, the last IOC Session in Lausanne confirmed the recommendations of the  IOC Inquiry Committee.

I would like to highlight that despite the suspension, the IOC still gives us a chance to solve our problems, make AIBA a transparent and well governed International  Federation and get back our Olympic recognition.

I had a meeting with some EUBC EC Members and some European Boxing Federations a few days ago in Minsk during the European Games and we have decided to pursue some common goals:

• Basic behavior: not to challenge IOC anymore and respect the conclusions of the Inquiry Committee
• Overcome the “serious governance issues” which are:
• Payment of the debts avoiding bankruptcy.  AIBA is a Swiss association and under Swiss law the “bankruptcy” may be triggered when:

1. if a creditor of an unpaid debt requests the opening of the bankruptcy procedure and the judge adjudicates the bankruptcy.
2. If the association voluntarily deliver its accounting books to the Court, due to indebtedness, and the judge eventually adjudicates the bankruptcy.

I would like to put at your attention 4 financial initiatives that can save AIBA:

• Our funds coming from IOC are frozen, from Rio 2016, but we still may ask and negotiate with the IOC a “loan” not to pay the debts, but to ensure the survival of the AIBA’s boxing events, the ordinary management, the salaries of the staff and the organization of an “Extraordinary Congress”. The IOC may say yes or it may say no, but I hope it depends on our attitude to show our goodwill to strictly follow their recommendations and  overcome our financial problems
• To sell the building purchased in 2012. I believe the revenue coming from this operation would be important, although it is not easy to sell it in a short period of time
• To accept donations and/or contributions from third parties. We may ask Mr. Kremlev to illustrate if the “Global Boxing Foundation” has already been established, and if and how this Foundation could help AIBA. I am sure that the “Global Boxing Foundation” will respect rules of transparency and good governance, and that the Statute is publicly available.
• The last, but not the least, to start a new and serious negotiation with BENKONS and FCIT, which are our biggest creditors. In my opinion we need to open a new negotiation with Benkons Group offering a settlement, trying to get a discount or at least a stretched schedule of payments. Regarding FCIT, Mr. WU DI belongs to our AIBA Family and I am confident that he will do all the possible to continue his precious help in favor of our sport.

TASK FORCE FOR the ROADMAP TO REGAIN OLYMPIC RECOGNITION

President Moustahsane, Mr. Lalovic and Mr McConnell,

the EUBC meeting in Minsk proposed, moreover, to create an AIBA “Task Force” with the mission to define the strategy and execute the actions to drive AIBA out of the crisis, restore the trust with the IOC and ensure that the next AIBA Extraordinary Congress will mark the beginning of the new Era for AIBA and the for the Olympic Boxing.

The task force shall include independent experts coming from IOC, ASOIF and from AIBA and continental Confederations .

The main goals shall include:

• To reaffirm the best relationship with IOC
• To negotiate settlement agreement with creditors
• To propose Amendments to the Statute, Bylaws and Technical Rules
• To define new roles of the continental Confederations
• To find solutions to finance the ordinary management of AIBA from now on and the organization of EXCO, that shall take place within the end of the this year

Thank you for your attention
Franco Falcinelli
AIBA Vice President

EUROPEAN GAMES/EUBC Elite Men European Championships in Minsk 2019

The second edition of the European Games in Minsk has ended. This event organized in the beautiful capital of Belarus under the aegis of the European Olympic Committee has been a great  success in all its organizational aspects including the number of athletes, volunteers and officials. In total, 3,666 athletes competed for 683 medals.

All together 317 boxers including 59 women attended in the European Games with a record number of 44 NOCs. The following nations took part in the European Games from Day1: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Northern Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

The boxing tournament of the European Games delivered surprises and exciting title contests.  Bulgaria, Poland, Spain, Belarus, Great Britain, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland, Great Britain, Armenia, Ireland, Ukraine and Russia celebrated their titles.

Much enthusiasm for the excellent performance provided by our best athletes who have demonstrated to be ready to achieve important successes at the World Championships that will take place in Yekaterinburg (male) in September and Ulan Ude (female) in October.

However, the biggest surprise was the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin that wanted to highlight how much the great Russian leader takes into consideration the Olympic boxing.

The next edition of European Games 2023 has been awarded to Kraków and the Małopolska region in Poland.

MEETING with EUROSPORT in Paris

I would like to share with you an important step made in bringing the EUBC sports world closer to the big broadcasting operators. On June 19^th, I met the Senior Vice President of Eurosport Mr. Laurent Prud’homme together with our Marketing&Partnership Director Gian Marco Sandri and EUBC EC Member Dominique Nato in Paris. The main purpose of the meeting was to develop a partnership with Eurosport as a Pan-European broadcaster for EUBC.

Communication & Marketing Director Gian Marco Sandri, EUBC President Franco Falcinelli, EUBC EC Member Dominique Nato

This partnership will bring EUBC’s sport offer to value by giving a great and distributed visibility throughout the continent in order to achieve the objectives of advertising and sponsorship.

A brief list of the points and subsequent steps:

1. Eurosport has declared the will on leading EUBC to develop its tournaments and it wants to find a model of economic sustainability with marketing fund raising actions;
2. EUBC will broadcast the tournament calendar and a series of essential information to create the product that Eurosport will bring on the market of its insersionists;
3. The sponsor’s engagement model will be mixed:

• The local sponsors will be able to enjoy more visibility because the television broadcast will offer a high volume of spectators;
• The production of the events will be borne by EUBC including the television production that will have to incorporate the guidelines.
• EUROSPORT is undertaking a strategy on each country called LOCAL HERO. The basic concept is to introduce small local heroes. In this respect, EUBC has proposed a thick mechanism of storytelling (very similar to musical talent) where athletes can tell their stories until the match.

After having exposed these points Gian Marco Sandri will work together with the marketing and communication commission to build the project for EUROSPORT and with the dedicated team that the broadcaster has made available to us in the next days.

EUBC Events took place in May

EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships Galati 2019

I would like to congratulate the Romanian Boxing Federation, leaded by President Vasile Citea, for a great organization of the EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships, which took place in Galati from May 22 to June 2. It has been an important stage for our young male and female boxers to show their qualities, competitiveness and skills at international level. The number of participants was very high, 265 male and 135 female boxers, which is a clear demonstration that European National Federations are doing a huge work for the growth, development and promotion of Boxing.

Tournaments:

• May 7 – 11, St. Petersburg (RUS): International Boxing Tournament “St. Petersburg Governor Cup” (Elite M)
• May 7 – 13, Khabarovsk (RUS): International Tournament Korotkov Memorial (Elite M/W)
• May 14 – 18, Kaunas (LTU): International Tournament A. Socikas (Elite M)
• May 14 – 19, Castellon (ESP): International Tournament Boxam (Elite M/W)
• May 21 – 26, Usti nad Labem (CZE): Grand Prix Usti nad Labem (Elite M/W)
• May 22 – June 2, Galati (ROU): EUBC Junior European Boxing Championships (Junior M/W)
• May 23 – 26, Mostar (BIH): International Tournament Mostar (Youth)
• May 24 – 27, Pristina (KOS): International Tournament Lah Nimani