Paulius Motiejunas will be the new interim CEO
MADRID, 15 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Euroleague Basketball, the organization that organizes the Euroleague and the Eurocup, announced this Thursday that the Serbian Dejan Bodiroga will remain in the position of president for the 2023/24 season, while the Lithuanian Paulius Motiejunas will be its new interim executive director.
Bodiroga, who was named president on September 14, 2022, “will continue to focus on increasing the quality of competition for clubs, players, fans, partners and all stakeholders in EuroLeague,” Euroleague Basketball said in a press release. .
Thus, the former Real Madrid and Barça player “will play a key role in strengthening relations” with the Euroleague Players Association, the Euroleague Coaches Board, the Euroleague Referees Union, FIBA, the national leagues and also “other institutions related to basketball”.
On the other hand, Paulius Motiejunas was unanimously appointed CEO at the age of 42 by the shareholders of Euroleague Basketball. In this way he will replace Marshall Glickman, who was interim CEO only last season.
Motiejunas has spent most of his career as a shareholder of Zalgiris Kaunas. “He started with Zalgiris in 2007 as director of communications, then became general manager and has been the president and owner of the club since 2013. He is also the director of Zalgirio Arena,” recalled the press release.
Under Motiejunas’ guidance, Zalgiris have experienced some of their most successful moments by qualifying for the EuroLeague Playoffs multiple times, even reaching the Final Four for the first time this century in 2018.
Off the field, Motiejunas has positioned Zalgiris among the EuroLeague leaders in ticket sales and revenue growth. In addition, he was recognized by his professional colleagues with the Euroleague Executive of the Year award for two consecutive seasons, in 2017/18 and 2018/19.