Basketball Bundesliga

Basketball Bundesliga (BBL)
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2015–16 Basketball Bundesliga
Sport Basketball
Founded 1966
CEO Jan Pommer
No. of teams 18
Country  Germany
Continent European Union FIBA Europe (Europe)
Most recent champion(s) Brose Baskets
(7th title)
Most titles Bayer Giants Leverkusen
(14 titles)
TV partner(s) Telekom Entertain
Related competitions BBL-Cup
BBL Champions Cup
Level on pyramid 1st Tier (Germany)
Relegation to ProA (2nd Tier)
Official website Basketball-Bundesliga.de

The Basketball Bundesliga (English language: Federal Basketball League) — commonly abbreviated BBL — is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season is split into a league stage and a playoff stage. At the end of the league stage, the top eight teams qualify for the playoff stage, and the teams positioned 17th and 18th are relegated to a lower league. The playoffs are played in "Best of five" format. The winning team of the final round are the German Champions of that season.

Additionally to the league competition, all BBL teams compete for the German Cup (BBL-Cup).[1] Teams playing in the second league (ProA or ProB), or in a lower Regionalliga are also eligible to participate.[2] There are always 3 knock-out rounds that are played for the BBL-Cup. If more teams of the leagues below the BBL level apply for participation, then available places and additional qualification rounds are added for them. The final four remaining teams determine the rankings for bronze, silver, and gold medals in knock-out matches termed the BBL-TOP4. The gold winning team is the German Cup winner.

History

In Germany a national basketball championship was first organised in 1939 and was won by LSV Spandau. By 1944 almost all basketball activity was forced to an end due to the Second World War. In 1947 MTSV Schwabing München became the first champion of post-war divided Germany. The creation of a split West-German federal-league consisting of one northern division and one southern division, each comprising 10 teams, was decided by the German Basketball Federation (DBB) in 1964. On October 1, 1966 the first season of the so-called Basketball Bundesliga started. Starting with the 1971/72 season the size of each division was reduced to 8 teams. With the 1975/76 season the league structure was changed into a ten team first league (1. Basketball Bundesliga) and a 20 teams second league (2. Basketball Bundesliga). Only the second league was split into a northern and a southern division of 10 teams each. In 1985 the top league was enlarged to a size of 12 teams, two years later each division of the second league was also enlarged to 12 teams. In 1988 the championship mode "Best of five" was applied for the first time. Starting with the 1995/96 season, the first league consisted of 14 teams. The Basketball Bundesliga GmbH (BBL) was founded in October 1996. The federal leagues received their own administration within the framework of the German Basketball Federation in 1997. Since then the second league divisions have been administered by the "AG 2. Bundesliga" while the BBL has been responsible for the first league. Two years later, a contract was signed between the BBL and the German Basketball Federation, in which the federation transferred its marketing/events rights to the BBL for a 10 years duration, in return the BBL agreed to pay an annual "amateur support fee" of DM 600,000 ( 306,775). Starting with the 2003/2004 season the top league was increased to 16 teams and in 2006/2007 it was further increased to its present size of 18 teams. For the following season 2007/2008 the structure of the second league was reshaped from is northern/southern divisions into a ProA division and a ProB division. These divisions remained under the administration by "AG 2. Bundesliga".

Between 1994 and 2001 the highest level German basketball league was called "Veltins Basketball Bundesliga" and from 2001 until 2003 the league was known as "s.Oliver Basketball Bundesliga".

Bayer Giants Leverkusen holds the record being the winner of 14 German championships. However, since 1997 ALBA Berlin has dominated the league, winning their 8th title in 2008. Twenty-one teams have won the championship since its inception.

Teams 2014–15

Team City
Brose Baskets Bamberg
Medi Bayreuth Bayreuth
Alba Berlin Berlin
Telekom Baskets Bonn Bonn
New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig Braunschweig
Eisbären Bremerhaven Bremerhaven
Crailsheim Merlins Crailsheim
Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt
BG Göttingen Göttingen
Phoenix Hagen Hagen
Neckar-Riesen Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg
Bayern Munich Munich
EWE Baskets Oldenburg Oldenburg
Artland Dragons Quakenbrück
TBB Trier Trier
Walter Tigers Tübingen Tübingen
ratiopharm ulm Ulm
Mitteldeutscher BC Weißenfels

Title holders

Finals

Season Home court advantage Result Home court disadvantage 1st of Regular Season Record
1986–87
Bayer Leverkusen
0–2
Saturn Köln Bayer Leverkusen
18–2
1987–88
Bayer Leverkusen
1–3
Saturn Köln Bayer Leverkusen
19–3
1988–89
Steiner Bayreuth
3–2
Bayer Leverkusen Steiner Bayreuth
20–2
1989–90
Steiner Bayreuth
1–3
Bayer Leverkusen Steiner Bayreuth
21–1
1990–91
1991–92
Bayer Leverkusen
3–0
Alba Berlin Bayer Leverkusen
28–4
1992–93
Bayer Leverkusen
3–1
TTL Bamberg Bayer Leverkusen
26–6
1993–94
Bayer Leverkusen
3–0
Brandt Hagen Bayer Leverkusen
28–4
1994–95
Bayer Leverkusen
3–0
Alba Berlin Bayer Leverkusen
28–4
1995–96
Bayer Leverkusen
3–1
Alba Berlin Bayer Leverkusen
24–2
1996–97
Alba Berlin
3–1
Telekom Bonn Alba Berlin
24–2
1997–98
Alba Berlin
3–0
Ratiopharm Ulm Alba Berlin
21–3
1998–99
Alba Berlin
3–2
Telekom Bonn Alba Berlin
22–4
1999–00
Alba Berlin
3–0
Bayer Leverkusen Alba Berlin
24–2
2000–01
Alba Berlin
3–0
Telekom Bonn Alba Berlin
25–1
2001–02
RheinEnergie Köln
0–3
Alba Berlin Opel Skyliners
20–6
2002–03
Alba Berlin
3–0
TSK Bamberg Telekom Bonn
19–7
2003–04
Opel Skyliners
3–2
GHP Bamberg Alba Berlin
20–8
2004–05
GHP Bamberg
3–2
Opel Skyliners Alba Berlin
22–8
2005–06
Alba Berlin
1–3
RheinEnergie Köln Alba Berlin
26–4
2006–07
Brose Bamberg
3–1
Artland Dragons Alba Berlin
28–6
2007–08
Alba Berlin
3–1
Telekom Bonn Alba Berlin
27–7
2008–09
Oldenburg
3–2
Telekom Bonn Alba Berlin
26–8
2009–10
Brose Bamberg
3–2
Deutsche Bank Skyliners Oldenburg
25–9
2010–11
Brose Bamberg
3–2
Alba Berlin Brose Bamberg
32–2
2011–12
Brose Bamberg
3–0
Ratiopharm Ulm Brose Bamberg
30–4
2012–13
Brose Bamberg
3–0
Oldenburg Brose Bamberg
26–8
2013–14
Bayern Munich
3–1
Alba Berlin Bayern Munich
29–5
2014–15
Brose Bamberg
3–2
Bayern Munich Brose Bamberg
29–5

Finals MVP Awards

Season Finals MVP
2004–05 United States Chris Williams
2005–06 Serbia Aleksandar Nađfeji
2006–07 United States Casey Jacobsen
2007–08 United States Julius Jenkins
2008–09 United States Rickey Paulding
2009–10 United States Casey Jacobsen
2010–11 United States Kyle Hines
2011–12 United States P. J. Tucker
2012–13 Slovakia Anton Gavel
2013–14 United States Malcolm Delaney
2014–15 United States Brad Wanamaker [3]

See also

References

External links

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