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.

Albanian Basketball League (ABL)

Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 Albanian Basketball League
Sport	Basketball
Founded	1946
First season	1946
Divisions	Superliga & First Division
No. of teams	11
Country	Albania
Continent	FIBA Europe (Europe)
Most recent champion(s)	Besëlidhja (1st title) (2023–24)
Most titles	Partizani (33 titles)
TV partner(s)	RTSH
Level on pyramid	1st & 2nd
Relegation to	Albanian First League
Related competitions	Albanian Cup Albanian Supercup
Official website	https://fshb.basketball/

History

The Albanian Basketball League is 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
2023–24	Besëlidhja	Teuta	4–0

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
Vllaznia	9	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
Teuta	4	1947, 1955, 2020–21, 2021–22
BC Adelin Pogradec	1	1993–94
Dinamo	1	1994–95
Goga	1	2018–19
Besëlidhja	1	2023–24

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

See also

• Albanian Basketball Cup
• Albanian Basketball Supercup

External links

• Eurobasket.com League Page