LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (Basketball Champions League) - The Basketball Champions League hosted its first-ever Game Officials Clinic from Wednesday to Thursday in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.

Seventy referees from 28 countries and forty one Technical Delegates attended the two-day event which covered a wide range of subjects, including officiating matters, campaign against match-fixing, game protocols and Instant Replay System.

"It is capital for everyone to receive the same message on the technical, organisational and administrative level," said Chantal Julien, one of the Technical Delegate. "The referees and the technical delegates are gathered in Ljubljana to build a greater consistency in the functioning of the Basketball Champions League. Different themes are tackled in order to start on good bases."

Patrick Comninos, the CEO of the competition, confirmed the importance of holding this type of working session prior to the start of the Regular Season: "We want to position the Basketball Champions League as a top-level competition and we can only achieve this aim with the participation of the best game specialists," he said. "This workshop is paramount in safeguarding a consistent delivery at all Basketball Champions League games".

To conclude the workshop, the officials were honored to welcome Umana Reyer Venezia's Head Coach Walter Di Raffaele. An enriching open discussion allowed referees and technical delegates to ask questions to the Italian champion and 2016-17 Final Four contender.

"Organizing this kind of event before the beginning of the season is a fantastic opportunity to share opinions, especially about the new rules, the experiences from the first edition of the Basketball Champions League. It is important to hear referees' voices."