After fourteen years of reign of Jean-Pierre Siutat, elected in 2010 to succeed Yvan Mainini who had himself been in office since 1992, the French Basketball Federation has a new boss. Jean-Pierre Huckler, aged 65, is the new boss of the fourth largest federation in the country with some 765,909 members in 2024. This is a historic record for the FFBB, only outstripped by the federations football, tennis and horse riding.
Hunckler was the only candidate in the running. He received a plebiscite with 95.41% of the votes during the elective general assembly. The voters didn’t find out. The new boss is a loyalist of the outgoing president who could not run again. He was until now vice-president of the federation since the election of Siutat in 2010. He was also its treasurer. Before joining the federal headquarters in the 13th arrondissement of the capital, the new tenant of the presidential office was also the president of the powerful Lyonnais league.
Reach “first place on the podium”
“My action plan will be broken down into five areas that I will share in the coming weeks and months with our leagues, committees and clubs,” declared Jean-Pierre Huckler in his first speech. It is structured around a clear vision for our sport: facilitating access to basketball and spreading it to all sectors of society on the one hand, consolidating our results at the highest level by reaching first place on the podium. ‘elsewhere. »
With him, all members of the outgoing steering committee were elected in the first round. During the mandate which will lead the new management team until the Los Angeles Games in 2028, we should therefore not expect any revolution in federal offices. The work will be carried out as a continuation of that of the Siutat team which is coming out with healthy finances to its credit, a record number of licensees and historic sporting results punctuated by the three silver medals (men , women and 3×3 basketball) collected at the Games this summer.
Jean-Pierre Huckler will have to renew the sometimes strained links with the National League and international bodies, fresh since the failure of Siutat as president of FIBA Europe in 2023. “I wish to rely on the strong points of the federation and get closer to our base, the clubs and committees, confirms the new boss. Our growth passes and will pass through them and it will therefore be necessary to remove the obstacles to development that they encounter. »
“While the results of our French teams and our clubs make basketball shine during international competitions and the attractiveness of our sport is confirmed day after day with more and more players joining us, I wish to unite in this positive momentum all the stakeholders in our sport, from the pros, through the National Basketball League, to amateurs, public stakeholders such as communities, to the private sector with businesses and our partners. A spirit of openness which must also guide us in the links that I intend to maintain with the International Federation. »