Tomas Van Den Spiegel (alternate spelling: Thomas, born 10 July 1978 in Ghent, Belgium) is a Belgian former professional basketball player and the current president of ULEB. At a height of 2.14 m (7 ft 14) tall, he played at the center position.

Tomas Van Den Spiegel
Van den Spiegel in a warm up with Real Madrid.
Personal information
Born (1978-07-10) 10 July 1978 (age 46)
Ghent, Belgium
Listed height7 ft 0.25 in (2.14 m)
Listed weight260 lb (118 kg)
Career information
NBA draft2000: undrafted
Playing career1995–2012
PositionCenter
Career history
1995–1997Okapi Aalstar
1997–2001Telindus Oostende
2001–2002Fortitudo Bologna
2002Telindus Oostende
2002–2004Fortitudo Bologna
2004–2006Virtus Roma
2006–2007CSKA Moscow
2007–2008Prokom Trefl Sopot
2008CSKA Moscow
2008Azovmash Mariupol
2008–2010Real Madrid
2010–2011Olimpia Milano
2011–2012Telenet Oostende
Career highlights and awards

Professional career

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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. He debuted at age 17, in the Belgian first division. He was named Belgian League Rookie of the year in 1996. In 1997, he moved to Sunair Oostende. With Oostende, he won two Belgian League championship titles and 2 Belgian Cups.

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, where he was a EuroLeague runner-up in 2004. He them moved to the Italian club Virtus Roma. After a season-and-a-half with Virtus Roma, he chose the Russian club CSKA Moscow, as his next career destination.

With CSKA Moscow, Van Den Spiegel won the EuroLeague championship in both 2006 and 2008. With CSKA, he was also a EuroLeague runner-up in 2007. 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, and one in Ukraine with Azovmash Mariupol, he played two seasons with Real Madrid. After moving to the Italian club Olimpia Milano for the 2010–11 season, he moved back to the Belgian League, in early 2011, as he signed a 4+12-year contract with Telenet Oostende in March 2011. He announced his retirement from playing basketball, in July 2013.

National team career

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Van Den Spiegel was also a member of the senior men's Belgian national basketball team. With Belgium's senior national team, he played at the EuroBasket 2011.[1]

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

EuroLeague

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Denotes season in which Van Den Spiegel won the EuroLeague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2002–03 Fortitudo Bologna 15 0 11.6 .684 .511 3.5 .3 .7 .4 5.0 6.9
2003–04 18 10 19.9 .583 .554 5.8 .2 1.5 .8 7.4 9.8
2005–06 CSKA Moscow 10 0 14.0 .667 .390 2.7 .7 .6 4.8 4.5
2006–07 21 0 14.4 .654 .489 2.9 .5 .5 1.3 4.3 5.3
2007–08 CSKA Moscow 8 0 9.9 .611 .474 2.9 .1 .1 3.9 3.8
Gdynia 10 8 23.8 .507 .792 7.6 .6 .9 1.7 10.6 15.9
2008–09 Real Madrid 12 3 13.8 .667 .538 3.6 .3 .3 .3 6.1 6.8
2009–10 2 0 4.5 1.000 .5 .5 1.0 -0.5
2010–11 Milano 5 2 7.6 .333 .750 1.8 .2 2.0 0.6
Career 101 23 14.9 .605 .552 3.9 .3 .7 .8 5.6 7.0

Executive career

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In 2016, Van Den Spiegel became the President of the Union of European Leagues of Basketball (ULEB).[2] Since 2018, Van Den Spiegel is the CEO of Flanders Classics.

References

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  1. ^ omas VAN DEN SPIEGEL (BEL) participated in 14 FIBA / FIBA Zones events.
  2. ^ "Tomas Van Den Spiegel is the new president of ULEB". Eurohoops. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
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  Media related to Tomas Van Den Spiegel at Wikimedia Commons