VTB United League

VTB United League
Единая Лига ВТБ

Current season, competition or edition: 2015–16 VTB United League
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Sport	Basketball
Founded	2008 (Promo-Cup) 2009 (VTB United League)
CEO	Andrey Shirokov
Motto	One league. One language. Language of basketball.
No. of teams	16
Country	Russia (10 teams) Belarus (1 team) Czech Republic (1 team) Finland (1 team) Estonia (1 team) Latvia (1 team) Kazakhstan (1 team)
Most recent champion(s)	CSKA Moscow (6th title)
Most titles	CSKA Moscow (6 titles)
Level on pyramid	1st tier (Russia)
Official website	vtb-league.com

VTB United League (Russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional basketball league that was founded in 2008. Starting with the 2013–14 season, it is the 1st tier of Russian professional club basketball, as well as the national domestic league of Russia, with the highest placed Russian team in the league also being the Russian champions. Its goal is to unite the leading basketball clubs of Eastern Europe and Northern Europe together into one league. The league is sponsored by VTB Bank.

League formats

In its inaugural 2009–10 season league format season, the VTB United League featured clubs from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. For the 2010–11 season, teams from Finland, Poland and Belarus were added to the league. The 2011–12 season featured a total of 18 teams, with new teams being added from Czech Republic and Kazakhstan. In the 2012–13 season, the number of teams increased to 20. The number of teams was decreased to 16 for the 2014–15 season, and the teams from Ukraine and Lithuania dropped out of the competition.

History

The first step in the creation of the league was a competition named the VTB United League Promo-Cup held in Moscow in December, 2008. The final of the Promo-Cup was played on December 22, 2008, and was won by CSKA Moscow, who defeated Khimki 70–66. Kyiv ended third.

Unification with the Russian PBL

In May 2012, all the PBL clubs gathered to decide which format would be used for the next season, and some club's directors raised the possibility of uniting with the VTB United League, to produce greater competition between the Russian basketball clubs. They suggested that the new league would be named the Eastern European Professional Basketball League.

In July 2012, the Council of VTB United League gave a definitive decision. It was decided that the PBL league would continue for one more year, with some of the games of the VTB United League that took place between two Russian clubs being counted as PBL games. The first tier Russian clubs then replaced the PBL with the VTB United League as their new national domestic league, starting with the 2013-14 season.

The VTB United League was officially recognized by FIBA Europe in September 2013. The league was then officially recognized by FIBA World in October 2014. The league needed to be recognized by both bodies, because it contains clubs that come from countries that are part of both the European and Asian FIBA zones.

Arena rules

In order for clubs to play in the VTB United League, they must have a home arena that has a seating capacity of at least 3,000 seats.

Current teams

These are the teams that are participating in 2014–15 season:

Team appearances

Team	2008 (8)	09–10 (8)	10–11 (12)	11–12 (18)	12–13 (20)	13–14 (20)	14–15 (16)
Tsmoki-Minsk			GS	GS	GS	GS	15th
Nymburk				GS	GS	GS	14th
Kalev/Cramo		GS	bgcolor=gold	GS	GS	GS	9th
Bisons Loimaa							13th
Espoon Honka			GS
Torpan Pojat				QR
Astana				bgcolor=gold	1/8	1/8	8th
ASK Rīga	7th
VEF Rīga		GS	GS	bgcolor=gold	1/4	GS	10th
Lietuvos rytas			GS	3rd	GS	1/2
Neptūnas					GS	GS
Šiauliai				QR
Žalgiris	5th	3rd	1/8	1/8	3rd
Anwil				QR
Prokom	8th		GS	GS
Turów					GS	GS
Avtodor							7th
CSKA	1st	1st	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st
Dynamo	4th
Enisey				GS	GS	1/8	11th
Khimki	2nd	4th	1st	1/4	4th	1/4	2nd
Krasny Oktyabr						1/8	12th
Krasnye Krylia				GS	1/4	1/4	16th
Lokomotiv Kuban				4th	2nd	1/4	3rd
Nizhny Novgorod				1/8	1/4	2nd	4th
Spartak				1/4	1/8	1/8
Triumph					1/8	1/4
UNICS		2nd	3rd	2nd	1/4	1/2	6th
Zenit				bgcolor=gold|		5th
Azovmash	6th	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS
Budivelnik				GS
Dnipro			GS	QR
Donetsk		GS			1/8	GS
Kyiv	3rd

Titles

Key to colors

VTB United League Promo-Cup

Season	Finals & Final Four host	Finals			Third and fourth place
		Gold	Score	Silver	Bronze	Score	Fourth Place
2008 Details	Russia (USK CSKA, Moscow)	CSKA Moscow	70–66	Khimki	Kyiv	86–73	Dynamo Moscow
2009–10 Details	Lithuania (Sports Hall, Kaunas)	CSKA Moscow	66–55	UNICS	Žalgiris	78–72	Khimki
2010–11 Details	Russia (Basket Hall, Kazan)	Khimki	66–64	CSKA Moscow	UNICS	95–75	Azovmash
2011–12 Details	Lithuania (Siemens Arena, Vilnius)	CSKA Moscow	74–62	UNICS	Lietuvos rytas	91–83	Lokomotiv-Kuban
2012–13 Details	In home and away court	CSKA Moscow	3–1 Series	Lokomotiv-Kuban	Žalgiris	Did not play	Khimki
2013–14 Details	In home and away court	CSKA Moscow	3–0 Series	Nizhny Novgorod	UNICS	Did not play	Lietuvos rytas
2014–15 Details	In home and away court	CSKA Moscow	3–0 Series	Khimki	Lokomotiv-Kuban	Did not play	Nizhny Novgorod

^† The whole 2008 tournament was staged in Moscow, including the Final Four.

Awards

Major awards Most Valuable Player Playoffs MVP Coach of the Year Young Player of the Year Sixth Man of the Year Defensive Player of the Year

Awards by nationality Top Polish Player Top Estonian Player Top Kazakh Player Top Ukrainian Player Top Russian Player Top Belarusian Player Top Lithuanian Player Top Latvian Player Top Czech Player

Records

Main article: VTB United League Records

Sponsors

• VTB Bank

See also

• Russian Professional League
• Russian SuperLeague
• USSR Premiere League
• List of Russian League Champions
• Adriatic League
• Baltic League

External links

• Official Website (Russian)
• Official Website (English)