OMM Newsroom
Sabah basketball club, which won the Azerbaijan championship last season, has a budget of 10 million euros. Ioannis Diamantakos, head coach of Azerbaijan’s women’s national team, disclosed the figure in an interview with the Greek Basketball Federation’s EOK WebRadio.
The Greek coach said he was surprised by the professional organization of basketball in Azerbaijan and the scale of investment in the sport. He said the country had become an attractive destination for foreign basketball professionals, both because of its financial terms and its approach to developing the sport.
Diamantakos said a five-year program was planned to develop women’s basketball. His contract with the Azerbaijan Basketball Federation is for two years, with the possibility of extending cooperation under the project. The aim is to narrow the gap between women’s and men’s basketball, and to develop player training, results among younger age groups and clubs.
The coach stressed that around 70 percent of basketball activity is concentrated in Baku. The federation plans to send specialists to the regions to identify talented girls and establish new training centers.
Diamantakos said Azerbaijan’s women’s 3x3 national team could qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and even compete for a medal. In 5x5 basketball, the initial goal is to build a sustainable system for developing players.
He welcomed the federation leadership’s interest in reforms and said there were not enough sports halls. Existing facilities are of good quality, he said, but the infrastructure needs to be expanded. The figure for Sabah’s budget was provided by Diamantakos and has not been independently verified against financial statements made public by the club.
