The Basketball Holding Company, a controlling joint-stock business organization that manages the Vilnius-based BC Wolves basketball club, has recently founded the "Sandstorm Shooters DMCC" in the free economic zone of Dubai. Said new basketball club has been granted an operating license for commercial activities.
The recently established ball club will compete in the local United Arab Emirates league.
In 2013, seven (7) teams began competing in the UAE National Basketball League. All are owned by the public sector, making the Sandstorm Shooters the first privately-owned club to compete for the championship of the Arabian Peninsula nation.
According to current international rules, clubs registered in other countries or teams participating in national championships of other countries are allowed to play official matches of their championships or international tournaments, such as the EuroLeague or the European Cup, in Dubai, Abu Dhabi or another city in the country only after receiving the approval of the UAE Basketball Federation.
Additionally, to participate in the championships of this country, it is necessary that the joining of a new club be approved by all the other participating clubs. Without permits and approvals, only exhibition or recreational basketball matches can be hosted in the UAE. Therefore, a team from Dubai or another city in the UAE will have to play in the local basketball championship if they want to participate in European club basketball tournaments.
With this in mind, Sandstorm Shooters DMCC has applied to the UAE Basketball Federation to become a member club of the local tournament - the UAE National Basketball League.
According to Andrius Žiauberis, head of the Basketball Holding Company, this is the first big step towards realizing the vision of the company's development.
"One of our long-term goals is to expand the company's operating markets, creating maximum value for the business organization. Therefore, next to Vilnius Wolves, a club is being established in Dubai. All existing and future clubs managed by the Basketball Holding Company will be facilitated from the headquarters in Lithuania according to the back-office principle and standards - a unified player database, common management experiences, sales of consolidated brands, and player rotation between the company's clubs."
"Our strategic plans are focused on Europe and the Middle East regions. Similarly, only on a larger scale, the City Football Group holding company operations, managing more than 10 football clubs in New York, Mumbai, Melbourne, Manchester, Yokohama, and elsewhere," added A. Žiauberis.
At the same time, he assured that the BC Wolves club will continue its operations in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius.
"We want to clarify that the Wolves club will not be moved to Dubai. It will remain in Vilnius and continue to compete in both Lithuanian and European tournaments, having its own separate budget, infrastructure, and administrative resources. Players can be loaned to the new club, and the creation of joint summer training camps cannot be ruled out," said A. Žiauberis.
The establishment of a new club is the first step in the growth of the Basketball Holding Company. In the future, it is consistently planning to continue its development by selling the basketball product to other European or Middle Eastern cities with high purchasing power that do not have EuroLeague teams.