Izuchukwu Okosi
Nigeria’s representation was missing but fellow African nation Cape Verde were present at the second global meeting of FIBA’s Single Point of Contact initiative, hosted by FIBA Europe in cooperation with the Hellenic Basketball Federation in Athens, Greece.
The meeting which ended on Friday brought together 21 European SPOCs as well as their colleagues from Australia, Japan, Thailand and of course Cape Verde from Africa.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe two-day workshop included presentations from speakers such as George Mavrotas, Secretary General of Sport of the Hellenic Republic, Dieter Braekeveld, Integrity in Sport Officer at INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Center, Fotini Karamanlaki, Head of the Ethics, Integrity and Compliance Commission and the Hellenic Olympic Committee and a practical session on match-fixing investigation techniques led by Harod Associates.
The SPOCs representing 25 National Federations also learned of the latest developments in FIBA’s integrity and safeguarding programs and initiatives and had the opportunity to exchange good practices from various case studies.
The main focus of the most recent workshop was to continue building the network of SPOCs working within the National Federations and with key partners.
The SPOC initiative, which was introduced in 2022, follows the success of the SWISH program, with the appointment of a SPOC – single point of contact – by all National Federations a central element of FIBA’s integrity plan.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
