Tomas Van Den Spiegel

Van den Spiegel in a warm up with Real Madrid.
Personal information
Born	(1978-07-10) 10 July 1978 (age 45) Ghent, Belgium
Nationality	Belgian
Listed height	7 ft 0.25 in (2.14 m)
Listed weight	260 lb (118 kg)
Career information
NBA draft	2000: undrafted
Playing career	1995–2012
Position	Center
Career history
1995–1997	Okapi Aalstar
1997–2001	Telindus Oostende
2001–2002	Fortitudo Bologna
2002	Telindus Oostende
2002–2004	Fortitudo Bologna
2004–2006	Virtus Roma
2006–2007	CSKA Moscow
2007–2008	Prokom Trefl Sopot
2008	CSKA Moscow
2008	Azovmash Mariupol
2008–2010	Real Madrid
2010–2011	Olimpia Milano
2011–2012	Telenet Oostende
Career highlights and awards
2× EuroLeague champion (2006, 2008) FIBA EuroStar (2007) 3× Russian Super League champion (2006–2008) 2× Russian Cup winner (2006, 2007) 2× Belgian League champion (2001, 2002) Belgian Cup winner (1998, 2001) Belgian Player of the Year (2001) 2× Belgian League All-Star (2000, 2001)

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 1⁄4) tall, he played at the center position.

Professional career

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 the 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-and-a-half-year contract with Telenet Oostende in March 2011. He announced his retirement from playing basketball, in July 2013.

National team career

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]

Executive career

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.