At the quarter-final stage of the competition, EuroBasket 2005 is attracting huge public interest across the globe.

850 journalists from 50 countries are in Belgrade bringing news of the tournament to a worldwide audience.

In Greece, a whole nation is gripped by the prospect of their side medalling for the first time at EuroBasket since 1989.

Their quarter-final win over Russia attracted a 35% audience share, a clear ratings winner on Thursday night for ERT who broadcast the game.

Good ratings were also reported from Germany, Lithuania, Croatia and Russia.

Paul Stimpson, heading FIBA’s Television department is very satisfied with the numbers in the first week: “We have received a lot of positive feedback from our television partners. The numbers in the preliminary round are very encouraging and we did not even see the peak yet. We also had a lot of compliments for the production and the services we offer to the broadcasters,” he said.

In addition to extensive coverage throughout Europe the games are also being broadcast in the USA, the Philippines, Chinese Taipei and throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Friday’s games can been seen in over 80 countries, and the Finals will be broadcast in over 120 countries.

For the first time FIBA and FIBA Europe have offered broadband streaming with partners Media Zone and fans are able to watch games live on the internet, in the territories where FIBA did not have exclusive television rights.

The top countries that have subscribed to the service are Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Equally successful has been the traffic on the event web site, www.eurobasket2005.com. The site has received more 1.2 million visits since EuroBasket started on 16th September.

After regular sell-outs in the Preliminary Round, the Belgrade arena which can seat 20.000 spectators is just as popular. Although the home team dropped out in the Elimination Round, tickets are still a hot commodity. The Final Round was sold out in July and Belgrade is expecting thousands of fans from neighbouring Slovenia and Greece in Belgrade for the semi-finals..

More numbers and details will be released in the coming days.