Spanish basketball league system
The Spanish basketball league system, or Spanish basketball league pyramid is a series of interconnected competitions for professional basketball clubs in Spain. The system has a hierarchical format with a promotion and demotion system between competitions at different levels.
Contents
Men
There are currently five different competitions on the pyramid - the 1st tier Liga ACB, the 2nd tier LEB Oro, the 3rd tier LEB Plata, the 4th tier Liga EBA, and the 5th tier Primera División, which comprises the lower level regional divisions.
Liga ACB is organized by the Basketball Clubs Association. LEB leagues and Liga EBA are organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation while the lower ones are organized by the Regional Federations.
The tier levels
For the 2015–16 season, the Spanish basketball league system is as follows:
| Level | League | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liga ACB (18 teams) (previously Liga Nacional) |
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| 2 | LEB Oro (16 teams) |
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| 3 | LEB Plata (16 teams) |
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| 4 | Liga EBA Group A       |
Liga EBA Group B   |
Liga EBA Group C   |
Liga EBA Group D    |
Liga EBA Group E  |
| 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) |
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| Regional divisions | |||||
Lower divisions
For the 2015–16 season, the lower divisions for each of the Autonomous Communities is as follows:
| Community | Level 5 | Level 6 | Level 7 | Level 8 | Level 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andalusia |
1ª División (2 groups of 10 teams) |
Provincial leagues | |||
| Aragon |
1ª División (8 teams) |
1ª Aragonesa (8 teams) |
2ª Aragonesa (28 teams) |
3ª Aragonesa (3 groups of 7 teams) |
Provincial leagues |
| Asturias |
1ª División (11 teams) |
1ª Autonómica (12 teams) |
2ª Autonómica (16 teams) |
None | |
| Balearic Islands |
1ª División (11 teams) |
Insular leagues | |||
| Basque Country |
1ª División (14 teams) |
2ª División (14 teams) |
Provincial leagues | ||
| La Rioja |
2ª Interautonómica (14 teams) |
Sénior Masculina (9 teams) |
None | ||
| Navarre |
1ª Autonómica (11 teams) |
2ª Autonómica (12 teams) |
None | ||
| Canary Islands |
1ª División (9 teams) |
Provincial and insular leagues | |||
| Cantabria |
1ª División (8 teams) |
1ª Autonómica (8 teams) |
2ª Autonómica (7 teams) |
None | |
| Castile and León |
1ª División (9 teams) |
Provincial leagues | |||
| Castile-La Mancha |
1ª División (2 groups of 8 teams) |
Provincial leagues | |||
| Catalonia |
Copa Catalunya (2 groups of 16 teams) |
CC 1ª Categoria (3 groups of 16 teams) |
CC 2ª Categoria (4 groups of 16 teams) |
CC 3ª Categoria (8 groups of 16 teams) |
Provincial leagues |
| Community of Madrid |
1ª División (24 teams) |
1ª Autonómica A (24 teams) |
1ª Autonómica B (24 teams) |
2ª Autonómica | Local leagues |
| Extremadura |
1ª División (7 teams in 2 groups) |
Provincial leagues | |||
| Galicia |
1ª División (17 teams in 2 groups) |
2ª División (2 groups of 7 teams) |
3ª División (79 teams in 10 groups) |
None | |
| Region of Murcia |
1ª División (12 teams) |
1ª Autonómica (8 teams) |
2ª Autonómica (8 teams) |
None | |
| Valencian Community |
1ª División (2 groups of 12 teams) |
Sénior Autonómico (3 groups of 14 teams) |
Sénior Preferente (55 teams in 4 groups) |
1ª Zonal (69 teams in 5 groups) |
2ª Zonal (72 teams in 6 groups) |
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 | LEB Oro | |||
| 3 | 3ª División | 2ª División | EBA | LEB 2 | 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 | ||||||||
Other competitions
Women
Since the 2001–02 season, there are currently different competitions on the pyramid.
- Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation and composed by 14 teams.
- Liga Femenina 2, composed by 28 teams divided into two groups and also organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation.
- Primera División Femenina, where teams are divided into several inter-Regional groups. This competition is co-organized by the Regional Federations.
- Regional Leagues.
| Level | League | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liga Femenina (14 teams) |
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| 2 | Liga Femenina 2 Group A (14 teams) |
Liga Femenina 2 Group B (14 teams) |
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| 3 | 1ª División Group A |
1ª División Group B |
1ª División Group C |
1ª División Group D |
1ª División Group E |
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| 4 | Regional divisions |
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See also
- League system
- European professional club basketball system
- Greek basketball league system
- Italian basketball league system
- French basketball league system
- Russian basketball league system
- Turkish basketball league system
- Hungarian basketball league system
References and notes
External links
- ACB League Official Website (Spanish)
- Spanish Basketball Federation (Spanish)
