AsiaBasket
Regional professional basketball league
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AsiaBasket is an Asian men's professional basketball league founded in 2021. The league hosts tournaments consisting of senior and collegiate teams mostly based in Southeast Asia.
Upcoming season or competition: 2025 AsiaBasket International Invitational | |
| |
| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2021 |
| Founder | Jai Reyes |
| First season | 2021 Subic Championship |
| Country | Philippines Indonesia Malaysia Brunei Thailand United States Chinese Taipei Canada (all-time) |
| Continent | FIBA Asia |
| Most recent champion | Adamson Soaring Falcons (International 2025) |
| Most titles | nine teams (1 title each) |
| Broadcasters | AsiaBasket (Facebook, YouTube) Solar Sports |
| Official website | asiabasket |
Originally called the Filipino Basketball League, or FilBasket in short, it initially began as a domestic basketball tournament in the Philippines. Its first tournament was the 2021 Subic Championship held in October 2021. The league began inviting international teams in 2022, marking the start of the league's international expansion. The league was renamed as AsiaBasket beginning with the 2023 International Championship.
Nine teams have won the championship once, with the most recent champions being the Adamson Soaring Falcons, who won the 2025 International Invitational.
History
FilBasket era (2021–2022)
FilBasket was established by former UAAP player Jai Reyes and Buddy Encarnado of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League's Pasig Sta. Lucia Realtors in 2021.[1][2] It was founded as a means to provide a platform for basketball players whose careers were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. This includes players of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League which saw its 2019–20 season suspended and the succeeding 2021 season delayed due to COVID-19 measures. Hence, multiple MPBL teams joined the FilBasket tournaments as a way to continue playing competitive games, beginning a trend of MPBL teams taking part in other leagues during the off-season.[2]
First tournament and dispute
FilBasket began its first tournament, the Subic Championship, on October 28, 2021, after securing approval from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for a bubble tournament at the Subic Bay Gymnasium.[3][4] The tournament, however, did get the disputed by the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) regarding its amateur status, with the GAB contending that it is a professional league, and later issuing a cease and desist order.[5][6] Eventually, the GAB didn't go further with the legal action and FilBasket would subsequently begin the transition to professional status after sending a letter of intent to the GAB, which would be competed by February 2022.[7][8]
2022
As FilBasket turned professional, the league began attracting the Asian basketball market with the 2022 Summer Championship, which ran from March until May 2022. The tournament featured the first international team: the Kuala Lumpur Aseel based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, being invited as a guest team.[9] The following tournament would also be its first international tournament, the 2022 International Championship held in the latter part of 2022 in Malaysia.[10] It was also the first tournament under the current format, replacing the traditional round-robin format of other Philippine basketball leagues with a group-stage format.
AsiaBasket era (since 2023)
2023
On March 3, 2023, FilBasket announced their renaming to AsiaBasket to accommodate with the expansion into the Asian basketball market. The first tournament under the AsiaBasket name was the 2023 International Championship, which also took place in Malaysia in April 2023. Although the league previously stated that the FilBasket name would be retained for local competitions in the Philippines, the AsiaBasket name was still used for the 2023 Las Piñas Championship in July 2023, which featured an all-Filipino roster of teams competing in Las Piñas.[11] The 2023 Dasmariñas Championship then took place in Dasmariñas, Cavite, Philippines in November 2023, and featured United States-based Statham Academy, marking the first time the league featured a team based outside of Asia.
2024
AsiaBasket then intended to host its first tournament in Visayas with the 2024 Cebu Championship.[12] It was initially announced to start in April at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu before moving to the Toledo City Sports Center in Toledo, Cebu, and subsequently postponing it to May. The tournament would eventually not push ahead and would later be replaced by the 2024 International Championship, which will take place at Enderun Colleges in Taguig beginning July 9, 2024.
2025
On March 16, 2025, AsiaBasket began its first all-collegiate tournament with the 2025 College Campus Tour.
Teams
The following teams will compete in the 2025 AsiaBasket International Invitational:
| Name | Affiliation | Country | First tournament | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Prep Canada | N/a |  Canada |
International 2025 | |
| Formosa Tiger Kings | National Formosa University |  Chinese Taipei |
International 2024 | |
| Adamson Soaring Falcons | Adamson University |  Philippines |
International 2024 | |
| Benilde Blazers | De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde | International 2023 | ||
| Letran Knights | Colegio de San Juan de Letran | Las Piñas 2023 | ||
| San Beda Red Lions | San Beda University | International 2023 | ||
| UST Growling Tigers | University of Santo Tomas | International 2025 | ||
| Lakas California | N/a |  United States |
International 2024 | |
List of tournaments
Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of times that team has appeared in each tournament's championship game, as well as each respective teams' record in those games.
FilBasket era
| Tournament | Host | Teams | Finals | Battle for third | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runner-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place | ||||
| Subic 2021 | Subic |
11 | AICC Manila | 2–1 (series) | San Juan Knights |
Davao Occidental Tigers | N/a | Pasig Sta. Lucia Realtors |
[13] |
| Summer 2022 | Greater Manila Area[a] |
12 | Nueva Ecija Capitals | 2–1 (series) | San Juan Knights |
Tanduay Rum Masters | N/a | All-Star Bacolod Ballers |
[14] |
| International 2022 |  Kuala Lumpur |
10 | Harimau Malaysia | 87–68 | Kuala Lumpur Aseel |
Pilipinas Aguilas | 81–72 | MBC |
|
AsiaBasket era
| Tournament | Host | Teams | Finals | Battle for third | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions | Score | Runner-up | Third place | Score | Fourth place | ||||
| International 2023 | Kuala Lumpur |
10 | Kuala Lumpur Aseel | 83–72 | San Beda Red Lions |
Harimau Malaysia | 93–84 | Benilde Blazers |
[15] |
| Las Piñas 2023 | Las Piñas |
10 | Ateneo Blue Eagles | 60–57 | Benilde Blazers |
Sanzar Pharmaceuticals | 95–88 | Corsa Tires |
[16] |
| Dasmariñas 2023 | Dasmariñas |
10 | Benilde Blazers | 105–86 | Statham Academy |
MisOr Mustangs | 106–104 | Shawarma Shack Pilipinas |
|
| |
Tournament cancelled | ||||||||
| International 2024 | Taguig |
10 | NU Bulldogs | 73–64 | Adamson Soaring Falcons |
Benilde Blazers | 84–77 | FEU Tamaraws |
|
| College Campus Tour 2025 | Metro Manila[b] |
14 | De La Salle Green Archers | 89–77 | Ateneo Blue Eagles |
NU Bulldogs | 77–75 | San Beda Red Lions |
[17] |
| International 2025 | San Juan |
8 | Adamson Soaring Falcons | 68–63 | UST Growling Tigers |
Letran Knights | 20–0[c] | San Beda Red Lions |
|
See also
Notes
- The 2022 Summer Championship was co-hosted by three cities: Muntinlupa, Quezon City, and San Jose del Monte.
- The 2025 College Campus Tour was co-hosted by three cities: Las Piñas, Manila, and Quezon City.
- The game was forfeited in favor of Letran due to scheduling conflicts on San Beda's side.