Tomas Van Den Spiegel (born 10 July 1978 in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

, Belgium) is a Belgian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and the current president of

ULEB Union of European Leagues of Basketball (ULEB; french: Union des Ligues Européennes de Basket-Ball) is a sports organization within basketball created for growth of professional basketball in Europe.center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

position.

Basketball playing career

Pro clubs

Van Den Spiegel first began playing basketball in the youth age club ranks of Osiris Denderleeuw, from 1987 to 1995, and then with the youth clubs of

Okapi Aalst Okapi Aalst is a Belgian professional basketball club from Aalst, Belgium. The club competes in the top tier BNXT League and plays its home games in the Okapi Forum, which has a seating capacity of 2,800 people. Okapi is a long-time participant o ...

. He debuted at age 17, in the

Belgian first division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

. He was named Belgian League Rookie of the year in 1996. In 1997, he moved to

Sunair Oostende Basketball Club Oostende, for sponsorship reasons Filou Oostende, is a Belgium, Belgian professional basketball team. The club is based in Ostend and was founded in 1970. The club competes domestically in the BNXT League and internationally in t ...

. With Oostende, he won two

Belgian League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

championship titles and 2

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

s. In 2001, he was named the Belgian Player of the Year, and he then signed a three-year contract with the top-tier level Italian LBA League club

Fortitudo Bologna Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna 103, commonly known as Fortitudo Bologna and currently known as Fortitudo Kiğılı Bologna for sponsorship reasons, is a basketball club based in Bologna, Italy and currently plays in the second division. Histor ...

, where he was a EuroLeague runner-up in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. He them moved to the Italian club

Virtus Roma Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, commonly known as Virtus Roma, was an Italian professional basketball club based in Rome, Lazio. It competed in the first division of Italian basketball, the LBA, for the last time in the 2020–21 season. It was form ...

. After a season-and-a-half with Virtus Roma, he chose the Russian club

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

, as his next career destination. With CSKA Moscow, Van Den Spiegel won the EuroLeague championship in both

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. With CSKA, he was also a EuroLeague runner-up in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. With CSKA, Van Den Spiegel also won three Russian Championships and two Russian Cups. After a couple of short stints, one in Poland with

Prokom Trefl Sopot Arka Gdynia is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Gdynia. The team plays in the Polish PLK. The club's sponsorship name comes from the company Asseco. Historically the team is one of the most successful in Poland, mainly because of ...

, and one in the Ukraine with

Azovmash Mariupol MBK Mariupol ( uk, МБК «Маріуполь»") (former name: BK Azovmash)is a Ukrainian Basketball Super League, Ukrainian professional basketball club. It was founded in 1990 in the city of Mariupol in South-Eastern Ukraine. Mariupol was one ...

, he played two seasons with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. After moving to the Italian club

Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

for the 2010–11 season, he moved back to the Belgian League, in early 2011, as he signed a 4-and-a-half-year contract with

Telenet Oostende Basketball Club Oostende, for sponsorship reasons Filou Oostende, is a Belgian professional basketball team. The club is based in Ostend and was founded in 1970. The club competes domestically in the BNXT League and internationally in the Baske ...

in March 2011. He announced his retirement from playing basketball, in July 2013.

Belgian national team

Van Den Spiegel was also a member of the senior men's

Belgian national basketball team The Belgium men's national basketball team nl, Belgisch nationaal basketbalteamgerman: Belgische Basketballnationalmannschaft has represented Belgium in international basketball since 1928. The supervising body for the national team is Basketb ...

. With Belgium's senior national team, he played at the

EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's EuroBasket, European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted t ...

Executive career

In 2016, Van Den Spiegel became the President of the Union of European Leagues of Basketball (ULEB).Tomas Van Den Spiegel is the new president of ULEB.
/ref> Since 2018, Van Den Spiegel is the CEO of

Flanders Classics Flanders Classics is an official cooperation among the organizers of the classic cycle races held in Flanders. It was founded in 2009

References

External links

Euroleague.net Profile

Italian League Profile

Spanish League Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Den Spiegel, Thomas 1978 births Living people Asseco Gdynia players Basketball executives BC Azovmash players BC Oostende players Belgian expatriate basketball people in Spain Belgian expatriate basketball people in Poland Belgian expatriate basketball people in Ukraine Belgian men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Belgian expatriate basketball people in Italy Fortitudo Pallacanestro Bologna players Liga ACB players Okapi Aalstar players Olimpia Milano players Pallacanestro Virtus Roma players PBC CSKA Moscow players Real Madrid Baloncesto players Sportspeople from Ghent