The Basketball Bundesliga — 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. Teams playing in the second league or in a lower Regionalliga are also
eligible to participate. Always 3 knock-out rounds are played for the
BBL-Cup. If more teams of the leagues below the BBL apply for participation
than available places, 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 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 and a 20 teams second league. 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 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. 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 Title holders
Finals = Finals MVP Awards =
See also Basketball in Germany
German Basketball League Champions German Basketball League Awards
German Basketball Cup German Basketball Supercup
German League All-Star Game References
External links Official website