Albanian Basketball League

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]

Albanian Basketball League (ABL)
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023–24 Albanian Basketball League
SportBasketball
Founded1946
Inaugural season1946
DivisionsSuperliga & First Division
No. of teams11
Country Albania
ContinentEuropean Union FIBA Europe (Europe)
Most recent
champion(s)		KB Tirana (21st title)
(2022-23)
Most titlesPartizani
(33 titles)
TV partner(s)RTSH
Level on pyramid1st & 2nd
Relegation toAlbanian First League
Related
competitions		Albanian Cup
Albanian Supercup
Official websitehttps://fshb.basketball/

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 (2022–23)
Club Location Founded Colours Arena Capacity
Apolonia Fier
1925
   
 Fier Sports Palace
680
Besëlidhja Basket Lezhë
2020
   
 Asllan Rusi Sports Palace
4,000
Kamza Kamëz
1962
   
 Bathore Sports Hall
500
Teuta Durrës
1925
   
 Ramazan Njala Sports Palace
1,663
Tirana Tirana
1946
   
 Farie Hoti Sports Palace
1,200
Vllaznia Shkodër
1919
   
 Qazim Dërvishi Sports Palace
1,101

First Division (2022–23)
Club Location Founded Colours Arena Capacity
Partizani Tirana
1946
   
 Asllan Rusi Sports Palace
4,000
Elbasani Elbasan
1930
   
 Tomorr Sinani Sports Palace
2,130
Flamurtari Vlorë
1924
   
 Flamurtari Sports Palace
2,040
Skëndërbeu Korçë
1924
   
 Tamara Nikolla Sports Palace
2,400

Winners
Key
(*)
The team wins its 10th title
(**)
The team wins its 20th title
(***)
The team wins its 30th title
Season Champion
1945-46 17 Nëntori
1946-47 Ylli Kuq
1947-48 17 Nëntori
1948-49 17 Nëntori
1949-50 17 Nëntori
1950-51 Partizani
1951-52 Partizani
1952-53 Partizani
1953-54 Partizani
1954-55 Teuta
1955-56 Partizani
1956-57 Tirana
1957-58 Partizani
1958-59 Partizani
Season Champion
1959-60 Partizani
1960-61 17 Nëntori
1961-62 17 Nëntori
1962-63 17 Nëntori
1963-64 Partizani
1964-65 17 Nëntori
1966-67 Vllaznia
1967-68 Partizani(*)
1968-69 Partizani
1969-70 Partizani
1970-71 17 Nëntori(*)
1971-72 Partizani
1972-73 Partizani
1973-74 Partizani
Season Champion
1974-75 Partizani
1975-76 Partizani
1976-77 Partizani
1977-78 Partizani
1978-79 Partizani(**)
1979-80 Partizani
1980-81 Partizani
1981-82 Partizani
1982-83 Partizani
1983-84 Partizani
1984-85 Partizani
1985-86 Partizani
1986-87 Partizani
1987-88 Partizani
Season Champion
1988-89 Partizani(***)
1989-90 Vllaznia
1990-91 Partizani
1991-92 Partizani
1992-93 Vllaznia
1993-94 BC Adelin Pogradec
1994-95 Dinamo
1995-96 Partizani
1996-97 Vllaznia
1997-98 Vllaznia
1998-99 Tirana
1999-00 Vllaznia
2000-01 Tirana
2001-02 Tirana
Season Champion Runner-up Score
2002-03 Valbona Tirana 3–0
2003-04 Valbona
2004-05 Valbona
2005-06 Valbona Vllaznia 3–0
2006-07 Valbona Tirana 3–2
2007-08 Tirana
2008-09 Tirana
2009-10 Tirana Studenti 3–2
2010-11 Tirana UAT 3–0
2011-12 Tirana Kamza 3–0
2012-13 Kamza Vllaznia 3–0
2013-14 Vllaznia Tirana 3–0
2014-15 Vllaznia Tirana 2–0
2015-16 Vllaznia Teuta 3–1
2016-17 Tirana Vllaznia 3–0
2017-18 Tirana(**) Teuta 3–2
2018-19 Goga Teuta 3–2
2019-20 - - -
2020-21 Teuta Goga 3–1
2021–22 Teuta Vllaznia 3–1
2022–23 Tirana Besëlidhja Basket 3–2

All–Time Champions
Team Titles Years Won
Partizani ⭐⭐⭐33 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1967-68, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1975-76, 1976-77, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1995-96
Tirana ⭐⭐21 1946, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1970-71, 1998-99, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2022-23
Vllaznia9 1966-67, 1989-90, 1992-93, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1999-00, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16
Kamza*

(BC Valbona)

 6 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2012-13
Teuta4 1947, 1955, 2020-21, 2021-22
BC Adelin Pogradec1 1994-94
Dinamo1 1994-95
Goga1 2018-19
  • BC Kamza Basket won the title 5 times between 2003 and 2007 as BC Valbona.

See also

References
  1. "Historia e kampioneve shqiptare meshkuj". Archived from the original on 2011-12-11. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
  2. Shkodra Sport
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