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.

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 Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (Basketball Clubs Association), which is a private organization. LEB leagues and Liga EBA are organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation while the lower tiers 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)
2 LEB Oro
(16 teams)
3 LEB Plata
(16 teams)
4 Liga EBA Group A
Asturias Basque Country (autonomous community) Cantabria Castile and León Galicia (Spain) Navarre La Rioja (Spain)
Liga EBA Group B
Canary Islands Castilla-La Mancha Community of Madrid
Liga EBA Group C
Aragon Balearic Islands Catalonia
Liga EBA Group D
Andalusia Ceuta Extremadura Melilla
Liga EBA Group E
Region of Murcia Valencian Community
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 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 Andalusia 1ª División
(2 groups of 10 teams)
Provincial leagues
Aragon Aragon 1ª División
(8 teams)
1ª Aragonesa
(8 teams)
2ª Aragonesa
(28 teams)
3ª Aragonesa
(3 groups of 7 teams)
Provincial leagues
Asturias Asturias 1ª División
(11 teams)
1ª Autonómica
(12 teams)
2ª Autonómica
(16 teams)
None
Balearic Islands Balearic Islands 1ª División
(11 teams)
Insular leagues
Basque Country (autonomous community) Basque Country 1ª División
(14 teams)
2ª División
(14 teams)
Provincial leagues
La Rioja (Spain) La Rioja 2ª Interautonómica
(14 teams)
Sénior Masculina
(9 teams)
None
Navarre Navarre 1ª Autonómica
(11 teams)
2ª Autonómica
(12 teams)
None
Canary Islands Canary Islands 1ª División
(9 teams)
Provincial and insular leagues
Cantabria Cantabria 1ª División
(8 teams)
1ª Autonómica
(8 teams)
2ª Autonómica
(7 teams)
None
Castile and León Castile and León 1ª División
(9 teams)
Provincial leagues
Castilla-La Mancha Castile-La Mancha 1ª División
(2 groups of 8 teams)
Provincial leagues
Catalonia 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 Community of Madrid 1ª División
(24 teams)
1ª Autonómica A
(24 teams)
1ª Autonómica B
(24 teams)
2ª Autonómica Local leagues
Extremadura Extremadura 1ª División
(7 teams)
Provincial leagues
Galicia (Spain) 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 Region of Murcia 1ª División
(12 teams)
1ª Autonómica
(8 teams)
2ª Autonómica
(8 teams)
None
Valencian Community 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 LowerLower 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.

  1. Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation and composed by 14 teams.
  2. Liga Femenina 2, composed by 28 teams divided into two groups and also organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation.
  3. Primera División Femenina, where teams are divided into several inter-Regional groups. This competition is co-organized by the Regional Federations.
  4. Regional Leagues.
Level League
1 Liga Femenina
(14 teams)
2 Liga Femenina 2 Group A
(14 teams)
Liga Femenina 2 Group B
(14 teams)
3 1ª División Group A
Asturias Cantabria Castile and León Galicia (Spain)
1ª División Group B
Aragon Basque Country (autonomous community) La Rioja (Spain) Navarre
1ª División Group C
Balearic Islands Catalonia
1ª División Group D
Castilla-La Mancha Community of Madrid Region of Murcia Valencian Community
1ª División Group E
Andalusia Canary Islands Ceuta Extremadura Melilla
4 Regional divisions

See also

References and notes

    External links

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