| Current season or competition: 2012 ABL Regular Season |
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ABL logo since the 2nd season with AirAsia as the title sponsor. |
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| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country(ies) | Brunei (on leave) Indonesia Malaysia Philippines (2) Singapore Thailand (2) Vietnam |
| Continent | FIBA Asia (Asia) |
| Most recent champion(s) | Chang Thailand Slammers (1st title) |
| Most titles | Chang Thailand Slammers Philippine Patriots (1 title each) |
| TV partner(s) | 8TV ESPN (Sky Cable) JakTV pan-Asia: ESPN |
| Official website | www.ASEANBasketballLeague.com |
The ASEAN Basketball League, often abbreviated to the ABL, is a men's professional basketball league in Southeast Asia. Six clubs from six different countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) competed in the league's 2009 inaugural season.[1] The league was proposed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and launched on October 1, 2009.[1]
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Basketball luminaries from 6 ASEAN nations gathered at the Renaissance Hotel, Makati City in Metro Manila, the Philippines on September 1, 2009 to officially begin a new era of Southeast Asian basketball. In addition to the local basketball leagues in their respective countries, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have all contributed to setting up a diverse basketball league with passionate country-to-country rivalries.
Teams that participated in the inaugural season were the Brunei Barracudas, Kuala Lumpur Dragons, Philippine Patriots, SM BritAma, Thailand Tigers and former National Basketball League team, the Singapore Slingers. Mirroring the Euroleague in the west, the ABL has its own set of rules in terms of its roster makeup and salary caps. Teams are permitted two imports of non-ASEAN citizenship, two ASEAN imports, one player with one Southeast Asian parent, and seven local players. Teams are allowed to field a team of all local players if they wish to do so.
In the ABL Internship Program Press Conference held on March 11,2011, ABL CEO Kuhan Foo reported that 3 teams are on talks for a possible entry as expansion teams, 2 of them are from the Philippines, one of them is San Miguel Corporation and another a Cebu-based company, the other is from Jakarta, Indonesia.
On July 6, 2011, the well-known PBA team, the San Miguel Beermen will bring their winning tradition to the ABL, when they joined the league in a signing ceremony at the San Miguel Corporation office in Mandaluyong. Bobby Parks has been named as the team's head coach. This will be a different team from the original PBA team that is currently named as the Petron Blaze Boosters.
On August 5, 2011, Bangkok Basketball Holdings joined ABL in a signing ceremony at Golden Tulip Sovereign Hotel, the team is owned by Tom Griffin and Jeffrey Premer. The team will be known as the Bangkok Cobras for the upcoming season.
On September 22, 2011, the Brunei Barracudas has announced that they had bow out of the third season of ABL after participating for 2 seasons. This was stated by Barracudas owner Nadzaty Azma Azeez. No reason was announced on their pull-out.
On October 20, 2011, the Saigon Sports Academy officially announced the participation of SSA Saigon Heat into the third season of ABL, making them the first ever international professional basketball team to represent Vietnam.
ABL announced that the tentative start of Season 3 is on January 2012,this is due to FIBA-Asia calendar of tournaments for 2011 (FIBA Asia Championship 2011 and 2011 Southeast Asian Games).
And from then on, ABL will start in January and ends in June coincided with FIBA calendar of tournaments.
| Team | City / Region | Arena (Capacity) | Founded | Joined ABL | Head coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AirAsia Philippine Patriots | Metro Manila | Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig (3,000) | 2009 | 2009 | Glenn Capacio |
| Bangkok Cobras | Bangkok | Chulalongkorn University Gymnasium, Bangkok | 2011 | 2012 | |
| Chang Thailand Slammers | Bangkok | Thai-Japanese Association Gymnasium, Bangkok (6,000) | 2009 | 2009 | Raha Mortel |
| Indonesia Warriors | Jakarta | The BritAma Arena, North Jakarta (4,000) | 1994 | 2009 | Todd Purves |
| San Miguel Beermen | Metro Manila | Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig (3,000) | 2011 | 2012 | Bobby Parks |
| SSA Saigon Heat | Ho Chi Minh City | Lanh Binh Thang Gymnasium | 2011 | 2012 | Robert Newson |
| Singapore Slingers | Singapore | Singapore Indoor Stadium, Singapore (8,126) | 2006 | 2009 | Beng Siang Neo |
| Westports Malaysia Dragons | Kuala Lumpur | MABA Stadium, Kuala Lumpur (2,000) | 2009 | 2009 | Ariel Vanguardia |
| Season | Finalists | Semifinalists | |||||||
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| Country | Champions | Result | Country | Runners-up | Country | Semifinalist | Country | Semifinalist | |
| 2009–10 | PHI | Philippine Patriots^ | 3–0 | INA | Satria Muda BritAma | SIN | Singapore Slingers | MAS | Kuala Lumpur Dragons |
| 2010–11 | THA | Chang Thailand Slammers^ | 2–0 | PHI | AirAsia Philippine Patriots | MAS | Westports KL Dragons | SIN | Singapore Slingers |
| 2012 | |||||||||
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