The Spanish basketball league system is a series of connected competitions for professional basketball clubs in Spain.[1] The system has a hierarchical format with a promotion and relegation system between competitions at different levels.
There are currently four different nation-wide leagues in the system - the 1st tier Liga ACB, the 2nd tier LEB Oro, the 3rd tier LEB Plata and the 4th tier Liga EBA.
Liga ACB is organized by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (Basketball Clubs Association), which is a private organization. LEB leagues and Liga EBA are organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation while the lower tiers are organized by the regional federations.
| 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 |
For the 2015–16 season, the lower divisions for each of the Autonomous Communities is as follows:
| Community | Level 5 | Level 6 | Level 7 | Level 8 | Level 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andalusia | 1ª División (2 groups of 10 teams) | Provincial leagues | |||
| Aragon | 1ª División (8 teams) | 1ª Aragonesa (8 teams) | 2ª Aragonesa (28 teams) | 3ª Aragonesa (3 groups of 7 teams) | Provincial leagues |
| Asturias | 1ª División (11 teams) | 1ª Autonómica (12 teams) | 2ª Autonómica (9 teams) | 3ª Autonómica (10 teams) | None |
| Balearic Islands | 1ª División (11 teams) | Insular leagues | |||
| Basque Country | 1ª División (14 teams) | 2ª División (14 teams) | Provincial leagues | ||
| La Rioja | 2ª Interautonómica (14 teams) | Sénior Masculina (9 teams) | None | ||
| Navarre | 1ª Autonómica (11 teams) | 2ª Autonómica (12 teams) | None | ||
| Canary Islands | 1ª División (9 teams) | Provincial and insular leagues | |||
| Cantabria | 1ª División (8 teams) | 1ª Autonómica (8 teams) | 2ª Autonómica (7 teams) | None | |
| Castile and León | 1ª División (9 teams) | Provincial leagues | |||
| Castile-La Mancha | 1ª División (2 groups of 8 teams) | Provincial leagues | |||
| Catalonia | Copa Catalunya (2 groups of 14 teams) | CC 1ª Categoria (3 groups of 16 teams) | CC 2ª Categoria (4 groups of 16 teams) | CC 3ª Categoria (8 groups of 16 teams) | Provincial leagues |
| Community of Madrid | 1ª División (24 teams) | 1ª Autonómica A (24 teams) | 1ª Autonómica B (24 teams) | 2ª Autonómica | Local leagues |
| Extremadura | 1ª División (7 teams) | Provincial leagues | |||
| Galicia | 1ª División (17 teams in 2 groups) | 2ª División (2 groups of 7 teams) | 3ª División (79 teams in 10 groups) | None | |
| Region of Murcia | 1ª División (12 teams) | 1ª Autonómica (8 teams) | 2ª Autonómica (8 teams) | None | |
| Valencian Community | 1ª División (2 groups of 12 teams) | Sénior Autonómico (3 groups of 14 teams) | Sénior Preferente (55 teams in 4 groups) | 1ª Zonal (69 teams in 5 groups) | 2ª Zonal (72 teams in 6 groups) |
| Tier\Years | 1957–78 | 1978–83 | 1983–88 | 1988–94 | 1994–96 | 1996–2000 | 2000–07 | 2007–09 | 2009– |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ACB | ||||||||
| 2 | 2ª División | 1ª División B | 1ª División | LEB Oro | |||||
| 3 | 3ª División | 2ª División | bgcolor=silver | LEB Plata | |||||
| 4 | Lower | 3ª División | Lower | Lower | Lower | 2ª División | EBA | ||
| 5 | Lower | Lower | 1ª División | ||||||
| 6 | Lower | Lower | |||||||
| 7 | Lower | ||||||||
Since the 2001–02 season, there are currently different competitions on the pyramid.
| Level | League | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liga Femenina (14 teams) | |||||||||
| 2 | Liga Femenina 2 Group A (14 teams) | Liga Femenina 2 Group B (14 teams) | ||||||||
| 3 | 1ª División Group A | 1ª División Group B | 1ª División Group C | 1ª División Group D | 1ª División Group E | |||||
| 4 | Regional divisions | |||||||||