Basketball in Spain | |
---|---|
Country | Spain |
Governing body | FEB |
National team(s) | Spain |
First played | 1923 |
Registered players | 385,110 [1] |
Clubs | 3,619 [1] |
National competitions | |
Club competitions | |
List | |
International competitions | |
Basketball is the second most popular sport in Spain , directly behind association football. The top Spanish League, Liga ACB, is a member of ULEB, and the top Spanish League teams can compete in Europe, most notably in the Euroleague and Eurocup, and also under the FIBA Europe umbrella, in the FIBA Europe Cup. The Spanish teams also compete in a national domestic cup competition each year, called the Copa del Rey de Baloncesto, which is played by the top eight teams in the standings of the Liga ACB, at the end of the first half of the regular season.
For the 2018–19 season, the Spanish basketball league system is as follows:
Level | League | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Liga ACB (18 teams) (previously Liga Nacional) | ||||
2 | Primera FEB Formerly LEB Oro (18 teams) | ||||
3 | Segunda FEB Formerly LEB Plata (24 teams) | ||||
4 | Tercera FEB Group A Formerly Liga EBA (2 sub-groups of 14 teams each) | Tercera FEB Group B Formerly Liga EBA (16 teams) | Tercera FEB Group C Formerly Liga EBA (2 sub-groups of 14 teams each) | Tercera FEB Group D Formerly Liga EBA (2 sub-groups of 10 teams each) | Tercera FEB Group E Formerly Liga EBA (16 teams) |
5 | Primera División (15 groups, one for each autonomous community except Basque Country, La Rioja, and Navarra, who share the same group; in Catalonia, known as Copa Catalunya ) | ||||
Regional and lower divisions |
Tier\Years | 1957–78 | 1978–83 | 1983–90 | 1990–94 | 1994–96 | 1996–2000 | 2000–07 | 2007–09 | 2009– |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1ª División | ACB | |||||||
2 | 2ª División | 1ª División B | 1ª División | EBA | LEB (since 2007, LEB Oro) | ||||
3 | 3ª División | 2ª División | EBA | LEB 2 (since 2007, LEB Plata) | |||||
4 | Lower | 3ª División | Lower | Lower | Lower | 2ª División | EBA | LEB Bronce | EBA |
5 | Lower | Lower | 1ª División | EBA | 1ª División | ||||
6 | Lower | 1ª División | Lower | ||||||
7 | Lower |
Level | League | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Liga Femenina (14 teams) | |||||
2 | Liga Femenina Challenge (16 teams) | |||||
3 | Liga Femenina 2 Group A (12 teams) | Liga Femenina 2 Group B (12 teams) | ||||
4 | 1ª División Group A | 1ª División Group B | 1ª División Group C | 1ª División Group D | 1ª División Group E |
Like in football, several Autonomous Communities have their own autonomous team. These teams are not recognized by FIBA Europe, and only play in friendly games.
Between 2008 and 2010, the Torneo de las Naciones was played between the teams of Basque Country, Catalonia, and Galicia, and a foreign national team was invited. The following Autonomous Communities have played at least one friendly game:
Also, Menorca has got a basketball team which plays biennially in the Island Games.
On the other hand, Gibraltar has its own national team recognized by FIBA Europe. Gibraltar plays biannually in the European Basketball Championship for Small Countries and, like Menorca, the Island Games.
Club Baloncesto Breogán, S.A.D., also known as Río Breogán for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Lugo, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. The club was founded in 1966 by the Varela-Portas brothers. The team played for the first time in the Spanish top league in 1970. The name of the club is a reference to legendary Galician King Breogán. It is the most popular basketball club in Galicia, and it is also the Galician club with the most seasons and games in the top top tier of Spanish basketball - Liga ACB - and European and Copa del Rey appearances in addition to that. Because of that, Breogán fans proudly nickname their team as ''O equipo de Galicia''.
Club Basket Bilbao Berri S.A.D., commonly known as Bilbao Basket, also known as Surne Bilbao Basket for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Bilbao, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Bilbao Arena, Spain.
Donosti Gipuzkoa Basket 2001 Saskibaloi Kirol Elkartea S.A.D., commonly known as Gipuzkoa Basket and as Acunsa GBC for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. The team plays in the LEB Oro. Their home arena is Donostia Arena.
UCAM Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Baloncesto, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as UCAM Murcia, is a professional basketball team based in Murcia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home venue is Palacio de Deportes.
Basket Zaragoza 2002 S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Basket Zaragoza and as Casademont Zaragoza for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Zaragoza, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Pabellón Príncipe Felipe.
Club Melilla Baloncesto is a professional basketball team based in Melilla that plays in the LEB league. This is the only team in Spain that played all LEB seasons.
Club Ourense Baloncesto, S.A.D., more commonly referred to today by its sponsorship name of Río Ourense Termal, is a professional basketball team based in Ourense, Spain. The team currently plays in league LEB Oro.
Obradoiro Clube de Amigos do Baloncesto, S.A.D., also known as Monbus Obradoiro for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team based in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. They currently compete in the LEB Gold.
Ferran Martínez Garriga is a retired Spanish professional basketball player. At a height of 2.13 m (7'0") tall, he played as the power forward and center positions.
Rafael "Rafa" Jofresa Prats is a Spanish retired professional basketball player. At a height of 1.83 m (6'0") tall, he played at the point guard position.
The Spanish Basketball Federation is the governing body of basketball in Spain. It is based in Madrid, Spain. It was founded on 31 July 1923 as Federación Española de Basketball in Barcelona, Spain.
Oviedo Club Baloncesto, also known as Alimerka Oviedo Baloncesto for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball team based in Oviedo, Asturias, that plays in the Spanish LEB Oro league.
Palencia Baloncesto, officially named as CD Zunder Palencia, is a Spanish professional basketball team based in Palencia, Castile and León. The team currently plays in league Liga ACB.
The 2011–12 LEB Oro season is the 16th season of the Liga Española de Baloncesto. It's named too Adecco Oro by sponsorship reasons. The 306-game regular season will begin on Friday, September 23, 2010, and will end on Friday, April 27, 2011. The champion of the regular season will be promoted to Liga ACB. The teams between 2nd and 9th position will play a best of 5 games play off, where the winner will be promoted too to the higher division. The teams 16th and 17th will play a best of 5 games play-out where the loser will be relegated to LEB Plata, with the 18th team.
The 2012–13 LEB Oro season was the 17th season of the Liga Española de Baloncesto, a Spanish basketball league. It was named Adecco Oro as its sponsored identity. The champion of the regular season would be promoted to Liga ACB. The teams between second and ninth position will play a best of five games play off, where the winner would be promoted too to the higher division.
Alberto Corbacho de la Cruz is a Spanish professional basketball player who last played for Delteco GBC of the Liga ACB. Corbacho is considered to be one of the top three-point shooters in the Spanish League.
Joan "Chichi" Creus Molist is a Spanish former professional basketball player, coach and executive. During his playing career, he played at the point guard position.
Carles Marco Viñas is a Spanish retired basketball player, who played as point guard, and the current assistant coach for FC Barcelona Bàsquet of the EuroLeague and the Liga ACB
Ramón Fernández Vidal, known as Moncho Fernández, is a Spanish basketball head coach. He is nicknamed as The Alchemist. He holds the record for the most number of consecutive seasons in the same ACB team, having coached Obradoiro CAB for 13 seasons in Liga ACB. Moncho was the head coach of Obradoiro CAB from 2010 to 2024. He is widely regarded as the best Galician basketball head coach of all time.
The 2022 Supercopa de España de Baloncesto, also known as Supercopa Endesa for sponsorship reasons, was the 19th edition of the Supercopa de España de Baloncesto, an annual basketball competition for clubs in the Spanish basketball league system that were successful in its major competitions in the preceding season.