Indiana Hoosiers” FIBA Challenges NCAA Over Free Access to International Basketball Stars
Yarden Garzon has been one of Indiana University’s standout athletes over the past three seasons, playing a key role on the women’s basketball team. Originally from Israel, Garzon followed a common path for European-based players by competing with a professional club—Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan—before joining the NCAA ranks at Indiana from 2022 to 2025. She has since transferred to Maryland.
Unlike the structure in the U.S., many international basketball systems don’t distinguish as clearly between amateur and professional levels. Despite Garzon’s prior professional experience, Indiana didn’t have to compensate her former club to secure her eligibility—a practice that Andreas Zagklis, secretary general of FIBA (the International Basketball Federation), wants to change.
Speaking at FIBA’s Mid-Term Congress in Bahrain last weekend, Zagklis criticized the NCAA system for acquiring international talent without providing compensation, which goes against standard international transfer procedures.
“Colleges in the NCAA are increasingly operating like professional organizations,” Zagklis said. “This threatens the foundation of our basketball system, which is based on honoring contracts during player transfers.”
Zagklis emphasized that in the U.S., college athletes now receive financial benefits through name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals—and possibly direct payment from schools if the House settlement is approved. He argued that international transfers should involve formal steps, such as a Letter of Clearance, and include accountability for the player’s future conditions, availability for national teams, and compensation for the clubs and federations that developed them.
He concluded by underscoring the need to protect the investment made in players who train from a young age, only to leave for the NCAA system where they might soon earn substantial income.
Zagklis stated that FIBA plans to open formal discussions with the NCAA regarding international player transfers.
“This won’t be straightforward, as the NCAA is still figuring out how to regulate itself,” Zagklis said.
International sports organizations typically use a system of transfer fees when players move between teams. This is most familiar in soccer but is also applied in other sports. In U.S. sports, transfer fees are rare, though Major League Baseball teams have occasionally paid Japanese clubs posting fees to sign top players. Similarly, NBA teams have paid international clubs to acquire certain players. These fees are paid to the player’s current club and are separate from the athlete’s personal salary.
While soccer transfer fees can reach into the hundreds of millions, basketball fees tend to be lower but still meaningful. Given the increasing demand for international women’s basketball talent, clubs developing these players would likely demand substantial compensation from American colleges looking to recruit them.
Taking Yarden Garzon as an example, even a relatively small fee by international standards—say, $50,000 to $200,000—could be a significant burden for a college athletic department. It raises the question of whether Indiana would have still pursued her under such a financial condition.
These proposed transfer fees would apply to both men’s and women’s college basketball. Currently, Indiana’s women’s team features more international players than the men’s team. Of the current roster, only Valentyna Kadlecova came directly from a European club. However, transfers Edessa Noyan and Phoenix Stotijn previously played for club teams in Sweden and the Netherlands, respectively. Under FIBA’s envisioned system, their former clubs—Virginia and Arkansas—might have had to pay transfer fees for access to them.
Because there’s no international equivalent to the NCAA transfer portal, it’s unclear how that might influence fee structures. Still, what’s clear is that FIBA wants U.S. colleges to start paying for international players—posing a potential obstacle for programs like Indiana’s that rely heavily on global talent.
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