FIBA Americas League

FIBA Americas League
Current season, competition or edition: 2015 FIBA Americas League

Sport	Basketball
Founded	2007
CEO	Usie Richards
No. of teams	16
Country	FIBA Americas members
Continent	Americas
Most recent champion(s)	Bauru (1st title)
Most titles	Peñarol (2 titles)
TV partner(s)	DirecTV SporTV (Brazil)
Level on pyramid	1st-tier South America Central America Caribbean Mexico
Official website	FIBA Americas.com

The FIBA Americas League (Portuguese: FIBA Liga das Américas, Spanish: FIBA Liga de las Américas) is an international men's professional basketball club competition played annually by clubs of the Americas. It is organized by FIBA Americas. The first edition started on December 4, 2007.^[1]

The winner of the competition is crowned as the champion of all of the FIBA Americas zone region. It is the first-tier and most important professional international club basketball competition in the regions of South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. The league culminates each year in a final four showdown, called the FIBA Americas League Final Four. Currently, the winner of each season's FIBA Americas tournament, plays against the winner of each season's Euroleague competition at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, in order to determine an official club world cup champion.

History

The FIBA Americas League was formed in 2007, as a professional men's basketball club competition, under the organization of FIBA Americas, with the goal of creating a world-class top level multinational basketball league in the Americas region. The league was modeled after the Euroleague, Europe's top-tier multinational club basketball league. The main reason for creating the league was the promotion and growth of the sport, and the increased level of competition that would come from the creation of a multinational super league in the FIBA Americas region.

Another one of the main goals in the creation of the league was to eventually revive the dormant FIBA Intercontinental Cup, so that clubs from the FIBA Americas region could once again directly compete against top Euroleague teams in official games, and so that an official world cup championship could once again be contested. FIBA World decided to revive the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in 2013, deciding that the champions of the FIBA Americas League would play against the champions of the Euroleague, to decide on the world club champion. It was then decided by FIBA World that the tournament would be played every year from then on for the foreseeable future.

Another goal in creating the league was to form a league system of teams that could form a partnership with the Euroleague and NBA on playing friendly games during the preseason, in the same way that the Euroleague and NBA teams were already playing against each other during the preseason. This was finally realized in the 2014–15 preseason, when teams from the FIBA Americas League played against teams from both the Euroleague and the NBA.

Format

Under the original format, 16 participating clubs were divided in four groups, of four teams each. The top two clubs of each group qualified for the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals winners then played a four-team group stage, in a yet to be determined host city.^[2]

Under the current format, the 16 participating clubs are divided in four groups, of four teams each. The top two clubs of each group qualify for the semifinals. The semifinals winners qualify to play at the FIBA Americas League Final Four, in a yet to be determined host city. The final four format was held for the first time in 2014.

Results

List of champions

Year	Host (Final four)	Winners	Runners-up	Third Place	Fourth Place	Number of teams
2007–08 Details	Mexicali	Peñarol de Mar del Plata	Soles de Mexicali	Miami Tropics	Minas	16
2008–09 Details	Xalapa	Brasília	Halcones UV Xalapa	Biguá	Minas	16
2009–10 Details	Mar del Plata	Peñarol de Mar del Plata	Espartanos de Margarita	Halcones UV Xalapa	Quimsa	16
2010–11 Details	Xalapa	Regatas Corrientes	Capitanes de Arecibo	Halcones UV Xalapa	Halcones Rojos	16
2012 Details	Formosa	Pioneros de Quintana Roo	La Unión de Formosa	Obras Sanitarias	Brasília	16
2013 Details	Arecibo	Pinheiros	Lanús	Capitanes de Arecibo	Brasília	12
2014 Details	Rio de Janeiro	Flamengo	Pinheiros	Aguada	Halcones UV Xalapa	16
2015 Details	Rio de Janeiro	Bauru	Pioneros de Quintana Roo	Flamengo	Peñarol de Mar del Plata	16

Performances

By club

Team	Winners	Runners-Up	Third Place	Fourth Place
Peñarol de Mar del Plata	2 (2007–08, 2009–10)	0	0	1 (2015)
Pinheiros	1 (2013)	1 (2014)	0	0
Pioneros de Quintana Roo	1 (2012)	1 (2015)	0	0
Flamengo	1 (2014)	0	1 (2015)	0
Brasília	1 (2008–09)	0	0	2 (2012, 2013)
Regatas Corrientes	1 (2010–11)	0	0	0
Bauru	1 (2015)	0	0	0
Halcones UV Xalapa	0	1 (2008–09)	2 (2009–10, 2010–11)	1 (2014)
Capitanes de Arecibo	0	1 (2010–11)	1 (2013)	0
Soles de Mexicali	0	1 (2007–08)	0	0
Espartanos de Margarita	0	1 (2009–10)	0	0
La Unión de Formosa	0	1 (2012)	0	0
Lanús	0	1 (2013)	0	0
Miami Tropics	0	0	1 (2007–08)	0
Biguá	0	0	1 (2008–09)	0
Obras Sanitarias	0	0	1 (2012)	0
Aguada	0	0	1 (2014)	0
Minas	0	0	0	2 (2007–08, 2008–09)
Quimsa	0	0	0	1 (2009–10)
Halcones Rojos	0	0	0	1 (2010–11)

By country

Nation	Winners	Runners-up	Third Place	Fourth Place
Brazil	4	1	1	4
Argentina	3	2	1	2
Mexico	1	3	2	2
Puerto Rico	0	1	1	0
Venezuela	0	1	0	0
Uruguay	0	0	2	0
United States	0	0	1	0