Albanian Basketball League

Albanian Basketball League (ABL)

Current season, competition or edition: 2016–17 Albanian Basketball League
The FSHB logo
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1946
CEO	Avni Ponari
Divisions	Superliga & First Division
No. of teams	11
Country	Albania
Continent	FIBA Europe (Europe)
Most recent champion(s)	Vllaznia (9th title)
Most titles	Partizani (33 titles)
TV partner(s)	RTSH
Level on pyramid	1st & 2nd
Related competitions	Albanian Cup Albanian Supercup
Official website	www.FSHB.com

The Albanian Basketball League is the men's professional basketball league in Albania. It was founded in 1946 shortly after the formation of the Albanian Basketball Association and is now divided into two divisions, the Superliga and First Division, consisting of 12 teams each. The team with the most championships is BC Partizani Tirana who have won 33 championships in total, but none since 1996.^[1][2]

History

The Albanian Basketball League is the one of the oldest continuing basketball competitions in the region of the Balkans, having started in 1946. The league was formed less than two years after the Communist Party of Albania gained control of the country, and the sport gradually grew in popularity over the years before experiencing a rapid rise in popularity in the 1970s, leading to most cities and towns in Albania forming their own basketball clubs and building basketball grounds. Following the fall of communism in 1991 many basketball clubs were forced to fold due to lack of any investment, which led to the decline in the popularity of the sport as a whole in the country. However, since 1993 there has been some re-establishment of the folded teams as private investment along with some state funded has allowed teams to continue functioning.

Competition

The Albanian Basketball League consists of 12 teams, grouped evenly into two divisions, the Superliga and First Division. As each group contains 6 teams, they play each other four times in two separate phases during the regular season, once at home and once away in each phase. This means each team plays 20 games each during the regular season. A win in the regular season is worth two points and a loss is worth one point. At the end of the regular season the bottom two sides miss out on the play-offs, while the bottom club gets relegated from the Superliga to the First Division, the fifth placed side has to compete for a place in the Superliga against the second ranked team in the First Division.

Following the end of the regular season, the top four teams qualify for he play-offs, where the team which finished first plays the team which finished fourth while the second and third ranked teams play against each other. A winner is decided in the play-offs once a team has reached two victories, and they take it in turns to play at home until the two victories are reached. The finals is played between the two winners of the Superliga play-offs, with each team taking it in turns to play at home until one side has reached three victories.

Current teams

Superliga

Club	Location	Founded	Colours	Arena	Capacity	Head Coach
Ardhmeria	Tiranë	2006		Asllan Rusi Sports Palace	3,000	Afrim Bilali
Flamurtari	Vlorë	1924		Vlorë Sports Palace	1,000	Vladimir Birçe
Kamza	Kamëz	1962		Bathore Sports Hall	500	Adem Muhametaj
Teuta	Durrës	1925		Ramazan Njala Sports Palace	1,000	Artan Kalaja
Tirana	Tiranë	1946		Farie Hoti Sports Palace	3,000	Bujar Shehu
Vllaznia	Shkodër	1919		Qazim Dërvishi Sports Palace	1,200	Bledar Gjeçaj

First Division

Club	Location	Founded	Colours	Arena	Capacity	Head Coach
Apolonia	Fier	1925		Fier Sports Palace	1,000	Darian Adhamidhi
Partizani	Tiranë	1946		Asllan Rusi Sports Palace	3,000	E.Ismeti

Winners

All–time champions

• BC Kamza Basket won the title 5 times between 2003-2007 as BC Valbona.

References

See also

• Albanian Basketball Cup
• Albanian Basketball Supercup

International men's basketball
FIBA National teams Olympics World Cup Universiade U-21 World Championship U-19 World Championship U-17 World Championship World Rankings
Africa	FIBA Africa – AfroBasket U-18 U-16
Americas	FIBA Americas – FIBA Americas Championship U-18 U-16
Asia	FIBA Asia – FIBA Asia Cup U-18 U-16
Europe	FIBA Europe – EuroBasket U-20 U-18 U-16
Oceania	FIBA Oceania – FIBA Oceania Championship U-20 U-18 U-16
Other tournaments	Acropolis Tournament Adecco Cup Albert Schweitzer Tournament African Games Asian Games Commonwealth Games Belgrade Trophy Diamond Ball FIBA Asia Challenge FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament Lusophony Games Marchand Cup Mediterranean Games MVP Cup Stanković Cup Pan American Games Pan Arab Games South American Championship South Asian Games TBF International Under-16 Tournament William Jones Cup World Cup (Turkey)
Note: The Under-21 Championship is no longer held.