By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
The summer of 2018 proved to be more than turbulent for European basketball leagues. While the sport is making progress on a continental level, the landscape of the domestic leagues changed a lot and most of the changes are not for good.
Compared to last season, it has to be noted that once more the Top 10 Leagues remain the same. Countries like Belgium or Poland which are missing the cut. Despite having some solid clubs, they are not yet part of the top level leagues. On the other hand, it’s obvious that the Top 10 can be divided into three tiers. Spain, VTB United League and Turkey are the three leagues which belong to the top tier. Italy, Greece, France, and Germany are the second tier, while the Adriatic League, Lithuania, and Israel are the third.
However, if something doesn’t change drastically it seems that Turkey is heading to the second tier, while the German ambition for BBL to be the top domestic league in Europe by 2020, can’t be a reality. Having said that, the differences between the 4th and the 7th league are practically minimal and the leagues which seem to be making real progress as a whole seems to be France and Italy.
OVERALL RANKING
- ACB Liga Endesa – Spain (-)
- VTB United League (+1)
- BSL – Turkey (-1)
- Lega Basket Serie A– Italy (+1)
- Jeep ELITE ProA – France (+1)
- HEBA Basket League – Greece (+1)
- Easy credit BBL -Germany (-3)
- Adriatic League (+1)
- LKL – Lithuania (+1)
- Winner’s League – Israel (-2)
FIRST TIER
ACB Liga Endesa – Spain (-)
The best domestic league in Europe remains on the top of the rankings. In recent years, only Turkey briefly challenged the ACB’s dominance, but since then many things changed.
The Spanish league has a strong selection of clubs, four teams in the EuroLeague, a solid fan base, a good television contract and television distribution outside the Spanish borders. It can’t get better than this, despite the occasional financial issues of certain clubs with Joventut Badalona being the latest team which suffered such a hardship.
In any case, Spain is the model that everyone follows and the standard by which all other European domestic leagues are measured.
VTB United League (+1)
It’s quite clear that the VTB United League is the only league in Europe near the ACB level. VTB has a great lineup of clubs, two EuroLeague representatives, and an overall quality of on-court play that’s top notch.
The fact that the VTB announces publicly the clubs’ budgets is also a big plus. And the numbers prove that no other league can compete with VTB on money spent. Add to the mix a successful All-Star Game and things are going in the right direction. The main issue for the VTB remains limited fan interest, especially compared to the quality of basketball played.