Basketball in Spain

Basketball in Spain
Basketball in Spain
	Barclaycard Center, Real Madrid’s Stadium.
Country	Spain
Governing body	FEB
National team(s)	Spain
First played	1923
Registered players	385,110
Clubs	3,619
National competitions
	List FIBA World Cup; EuroBasket; Summer Olympics; ;
Club competitions
	List League: ; Liga Endesa ; LEB Oro ; LEB Plata ; Liga EBA ; Primera División; Cups:; Copa del Rey ; Copa Federación ; Supercopa de España; ;
International competitions
	List Euroleague; Eurocup; FIBA Europe Cup; ;

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.

Spanish basketball league system

The tier levels

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

Evolution of the Spanish basketball league system

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	Lower	Lower

Spanish women's basketball league system

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

Spain national basketball team

Men's team

Women's team

Autonomous teams

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.

Other competitions

References

^ ^a ^b "Anuario de estadísticas deportivas 2019" (PDF). culturaydeporte.gob.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 April 2023.

External links

Liga ACB Official Website (in Spanish)
Spanish Basketball Federation (in Spanish)
Basketball In Spain (In English)

[auto-1] "Anuario de estadísticas deportivas 2019" (PDF). culturaydeporte.gob.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 April 2023.

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