Dubai club coach attends pre-season meet of EuroLeague Basketball
KUUMAR SHYAM (ABU DHABI)As Dubai Basketball club prepares for a historic foray into EuroLeague Basketball, coach Jurica Golemac got to rub shoulders with his counterparts to prime up before their teams commence their rivalries on the courts.The second-most popular league in basketball held its annual workshops in Barcelona, with coaches gathering to continue the collaboration, open dialogue, and future-focused planning with the league's most influential figures.With three teams added and one team dropped for the upcoming season, the rookie representatives at the gathering, including Golemac, shared their excitement at being part of the new environment. 'The EuroLeague is the best competition in Europe and everybody wants to be a part of it,' Golemac said. 'It's very important to have these meetings, even more than once a year. It helps the organisation, the players, the referees and the coaches. And the fans!'The workshop was opened by Euroleague Basketball President Dejan Bodiroga, who reflected on a remarkable 2024–25 season and thanked the coaches for their contributions to the continued growth of the competition.'I would like to congratulate everyone for the amazing season that we finished, also to the teams who qualified for the Final Four [held in Abu Dhabi in May], especially to Sarunas [Jasikevicius] and his season winners, Fenerbahce,' stated Dejan Bodiroga.Coaches were outlined the organisation's strategic vision moving forward on sustainable growth, product quality, and deeper engagement with fans across digital platforms.
'Once again, we have taken the EuroLeague a step forward, celebrating record attendance, television and digital audience with an outstanding Final Four in Abu Dhabi, showing once again the Euroleague's tremendous potential to grow beyond its traditional markets,' stated Paulius Motiejunas, Euroleague Basketball CEO.
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Al Etihad
12 hours ago
- Al Etihad
Dubai club coach attends pre-season meet of EuroLeague Basketball
2 July 2025 22:59 KUUMAR SHYAM (ABU DHABI)As Dubai Basketball club prepares for a historic foray into EuroLeague Basketball, coach Jurica Golemac got to rub shoulders with his counterparts to prime up before their teams commence their rivalries on the second-most popular league in basketball held its annual workshops in Barcelona, with coaches gathering to continue the collaboration, open dialogue, and future-focused planning with the league's most influential three teams added and one team dropped for the upcoming season, the rookie representatives at the gathering, including Golemac, shared their excitement at being part of the new environment. 'The EuroLeague is the best competition in Europe and everybody wants to be a part of it,' Golemac said. 'It's very important to have these meetings, even more than once a year. It helps the organisation, the players, the referees and the coaches. And the fans!'The workshop was opened by Euroleague Basketball President Dejan Bodiroga, who reflected on a remarkable 2024–25 season and thanked the coaches for their contributions to the continued growth of the competition.'I would like to congratulate everyone for the amazing season that we finished, also to the teams who qualified for the Final Four [held in Abu Dhabi in May], especially to Sarunas [Jasikevicius] and his season winners, Fenerbahce,' stated Dejan were outlined the organisation's strategic vision moving forward on sustainable growth, product quality, and deeper engagement with fans across digital platforms. 'Once again, we have taken the EuroLeague a step forward, celebrating record attendance, television and digital audience with an outstanding Final Four in Abu Dhabi, showing once again the Euroleague's tremendous potential to grow beyond its traditional markets,' stated Paulius Motiejunas, Euroleague Basketball CEO.
Al Etihad
25-06-2025
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San Francisco 49ers touchdown in UAE as part of NFL expansion push
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Aletihad spoke exclusively to Stephanie Rogers, Executive Vice President of Marketing of the 49ers, who shared her enthusiasm of setting foot in the UAE, the first of three NFL teams to get the nod for activation in UAE as part of the league's Global Markets programme. Los Angeles Rams and Washington Commanders are the other two teams. "Our commitment is not just about flag participation but about creating a journey for youth development. Across a combination of in-person events, digital activations and community initiatives, we aspire to share the storied history of the 49ers with the UAE." As part of the 49ers' three-pronged strategy, there will be watch parties when the season kicks off with some matches on the east coast of America will be screened in public to allow UAE fans to see the game at suitable hours. Besides that, there will be digital avenues (e.g, an Arabic Instagram page has also been launched). Importantly, the 49ers have no complications from their fan base having any reservations during the expansion drive, as witnessed in some sporting leagues. The 10th oldest franchise in NFL – joining the league in 1949 and hence the name – has five Super Bowl titles to their name and sits alone in NFL history with most playoff wins. And Rogers establishes why the UAE appeals to the franchise. "For us, we like celebrating the entire Bay Area. We are hosting the Super Bowl this year at Levi's Stadium. So that'll be a big moment for us to celebrate what our area and stadium has to offer. "Aside from football, shortly after the NFL Super Bowl, we're hosting six games in the FIFA World Cup next summer as well. So we really see this as a huge opportunity to kind of tell the story of what we are as the 49ers. "We're a community that's very proud in terms of a fan base, called "The Faithful." I think there's a lot of synergies right in the UAE and in San Francisco in terms of things to experience, outdoor life and sporting activity. "We are the third largest fan base in the NFL in the United States and in many of the markets. But the NFL measures fandom internationally. In many of the markets, we are No.1 or in the top three since those days in the 1990s when we had Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, and Dwight Clark, or even just from the last five to 10 years when we've had three Super Bowl appearances and some exciting names in recent signings as well; so I don't think anybody feels like they want to keep San Francisco 49ers just to the Bay Area.'And Rogers is candid to say that the franchise is learning and adapting on the go when it comes to staking a claim in new territories. "The education event here [at GEMS] is coming from our experience in the UK. One of the learnings is that the best way to grow the game from a participation standpoint is to start working with the PE teachers and getting into the school system. "In the UK, we've built a really cool programme, called Unlocking Potential, in partnership with Leeds United, the EPL team. And just last week, the NFL UK hosted the national championship for flag football in the Leeds area in Yorkshire due to some of the work that we had done there. "So that's an example that we're looking for as we start building out our flag programming here, not only within the schools, but hopefully within a competitive landscape and creating leagues and clinics. And we're really trying to integrate here in a natural way, in a way that fits in with the culture and the population." Money Matters On the commercial front, Rogers insists it is not the primary focus for entering the Middle East market, though they are using the services of the region's leading sports consulting company Rise Group. The latter has clients for many sporting properties such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai Sports Councils, Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, Neom, etc. and has recently been acquired by the global agency Elevate. Rogers and Rise Group's co-founder, Dave McCann, now with the new entity Elevate Sports Ventures, expressed enthusiasm in finding great collaborators. "We're trying to have conversations, finding the right partners that want to be involved for the right reasons," Rogers said. "Our hope is that we can find a number of different people and businesses here because those relationships end up helping us bring more programming to life through the schools, community initiatives, etc. So while it's not the number one most important thing for us, it really does help us service the community in a very big way.'
Al Etihad
24-06-2025
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Dubai club to go up against the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona
25 June 2025 01:37 ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD) The EuroLeague, widely recognised as one of the toughest basketball leagues in the world, have confirmed the entry of Dubai Basketball club while expanding from 18 to 20 teams, thus ratifying on a proposal in May and reported first by Aletihad . Though two slots were added, three teams will reap the benefit because Alba Berlin dropped out of the league. The Dubai debutants will thus be joined by Hapoel Tel Aviv and Valencia a historical debut season in ABA League, Dubai Basketball climbed to the play-off semi-finals before being halted by European powerhouse Partizan – the team captured the attention of thousands worldwide. Although their campaign ended shy of the final finishing in third overall, the season laid a powerful foundation for what promises to be a defining season for the club."I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the leadership of Dubai and the Dubai Sports Council for their unwavering support. Their vision and commitment have been instrumental in making the success of Dubai Basketball possible," said Abdulla Saeed Al Naboodah, Chairman and by Jurica Golemac, Dubai Basketball will make go head-to-head in their debut season with some of the most celebrated basketball teams in the world. Facing the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, and reigning champions Fenerbahce, among other elite clubs, Dubai Basketball will bring top-tier European basketball to Coca-Cola Arena from September to and co-Chief Executive Officer Dejan Kamenjašević has been a driving force behind the club's rapid rise. "Credit goes to our coaches, players and all Dubai Basketball employees who worked hard to convert this dream to a reality," said Kamenjašević. Now, with EuroLeague ahead, we have even more to show. We're building something this city has never seen before." In just their first season, Dubai Basketball attracted nearly 80,000 fans to Coca-Cola Arena, paving the way for a new era for the sport in the region. As the only Middle Eastern team represented in ABA League last season, Dubai had something to prove from day one. And in the span of a year, they firmly established themselves as top contenders in Europe. Source: Aletihad - Abu Dhabi
