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Basketball in Spain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 | ||||||||
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:
Andalusia
Aragon
Asturias
Balearic Islands
Basque Country
[[Cantabria {{{altlink}}}|Cantabria]]
Castile and León
Catalonia
Galicia
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.