Força Lleida CE

Ilerna Lleida
Ilerna Lleida
League	Liga ACB
Founded	2012; 14 years ago
Arena	Espai Fruita Barris Nord
Capacity	5,500
Location	Lleida, Spain
Team colors	Bordeaux, pear and black;
President	Albert Aliaga
Head coach	Gerard Encuentra
Website	flleida.cat

Força Lleida Club Esportiu, also known as Ilerna Lleida for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Lleida, Spain. It plays in the Liga ACB with it home games played at the Espai Fruita Barris Nord.

History

The club born in the summer of 2012 with the aim to substitute existent CE Lleida Bàsquet, which had several economic problems.^[2]

In its first season, Força Lleida qualified for the playoffs, after finalizing 7th in Regular Season, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals against Palencia. The next season, the team got the same number of victories than the past year (11), but this time just could get the 10th position.

In 2015 the club achieved its best performance after reaching to the semifinals of the playoffs, but just one season later, Força Lleida finished in the last position becoming relegated to LEB Plata. But a few months later, the club achieved a vacant berth in the same league, so they could avoid the descent and play in LEB Oro the next season.

In 2017, despite the team could finish the competition with more victories than lost games, they just could get the tenth position at the table, thus not qualifying for the postseason.

Força Lleida promoted to the Liga ACB following the 2023–24 season, after beating Estudiantes in the semi-final and finished second, after they were granted a license.^[3] The 2024–25 season will mark Lleida's debut season in the Spanish top level division.^[4]

Sponsorship naming

Actel Força Lleida (2014–2018)
ICG Força Lleida (2018–2024)
Hiopos Lleida (2024–2026)
Ilerna Lleida (2026–)

Logos

Non-commercial logo (2012–2021)^[5]

Season by season

Season	Tier	Division	Pos.	W–L
2012–13	2	LEB Oro	7th	13–18
2013–14	2	LEB Oro	10th	11–15
2014–15	2	LEB Oro	5th	18–15
2015–16	2	LEB Oro	16th^[a]	9–21
2016–17	2	LEB Oro	10th	18–16
2017–18	2	LEB Oro	16th	12–22
2018–19	2	LEB Oro	11th	16–18
2019–20	2	LEB Oro	15th^[b]	9–15
2020–21	2	LEB Oro	17th^[c]	12–14
2021–22	2	LEB Oro	4th	25–15
2022–23	2	LEB Oro	7th	23–15
2023–24	2	LEB Oro	2nd	31–8
2024–25	1	Liga ACB	15th	11–23
2025–26	1	Liga ACB	14th	12–22

Players

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Ilerna Lleida roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Age
PG	0	McGhee, Darius	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)	27 – (1999-06-02)2 June 1999
SG	1	Batemon, James	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	29 – (1997-04-08)8 April 1997
PF	3	Ejim, Melvin	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	35 – (1991-03-04)4 March 1991
SF	5	Paulí, Oriol (C)	2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)	32 – (1994-05-20)20 May 1994
PG	6	García, Dani	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	28 – (1998-01-30)30 January 1998
SG	8	Hughes, Mark	1.99 m (6 ft 6 in)	29 – (1997-02-15)15 February 1997
C	12	Diagne, Atoumane	2.15 m (7 ft 1 in)	27 – (1998-12-31)31 December 1998
PG	13	Rodríguez, Adrià	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)	23 – (2003-04-28)28 April 2003
SF	14	Sanz, Mikel	1.99 m (6 ft 6 in)	27 – (1999-02-01)1 February 1999
PF	22	Shurna, John	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	36 – (1990-04-30)30 April 1990
C	23	Kuath, Kur	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	28 – (1998-08-12)12 August 1998
C	25	Perrin, Zacharie	2.08 m (6 ft 10 in)	21 – (2004-08-30)30 August 2004
PF	34	Majauskas, Aurimas	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	33 – (1993-05-11)11 May 1993
PG	55	Torrens, Pau (Y)	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	18 – (2007-12-24)24 December 2007

Head coach

Gerard Encuentra

Assistant coach(es)

Jordi Ribas
Mikel Garitaonandia

Legend

(C) Team captain
(Y) Youth player
Injured

Updated: August 24, 2026

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Bench 3
C	Zacharie Perrin	Kur Kuath *	Atoumane Diagne †
PF	Melvin Ejim	Aurimas Majauskas	John Shurna
SF	Oriol Paulí †	Mikel Sanz †
SG	James Batemon *	Mark Hughes *		Pau Torrens ‡
PG	Darius McGhee	Dani García †	Adrià Rodríguez †

Notes: Blue † – homegrown player;^[d] Red * – overseas player;^[e] Green ‡ – youth player^[f]

Trophies and awards

Trophies

Lliga Catalana LEB: (3)
- 2012, 2022, 2023

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

Women's team

Força Lleida CE has also a women's team which was founded in 2023 and plays in Supercopa de Catalunya, the Spanish women's basketball fourth tier.

Notes

↑ Remained in the league after achieving a vacant berth.
↑ Season curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
↑ Remained in the league after achieving a vacant berth.
↑ A homegrown player is a player that played for at least three years before the age of 20 on a Spanish team. In Liga ACB, the team must register at least four homegrown players in rosters of 10–12 players or at least three homegrown players in rosters of 8–9 players.
↑ An overseas player is a player from outside EEA, FIBA Europe or ACP states. In Liga ACB, the team may register at most two overseas players.
↑ In Liga ACB, the team may register under-22 players linked to the youth system.

References

↑ "ACB.COM". www.acb.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 August 2024. AFORO: 5.500 espectadores
↑ El nuevo Força Lleida se presenta en sociedad; Solobasket.com, 12 July 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2015. (in Spanish)
↑ "Força Lleida ya es nuevo equipo de Liga Endesa" (in Spanish). 2024-07-16. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
↑ "acb.com". www.acb.com (in Spanish). 2024-06-09. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
↑ "CANVI D'IMATGE I LOGOTIP DEL FORÇA LLEIDA - Força Lleida". flleida.cat (in Catalan). 27 July 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.

External links

Official website (in Catalan)
Hiopos Lleida at ACB.COM (in Spanish)

[6] Remained in the league after achieving a vacant berth.

[7] Season curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[8] Remained in the league after achieving a vacant berth.

[9] A homegrown player is a player that played for at least three years before the age of 20 on a Spanish team. In Liga ACB, the team must register at least four homegrown players in rosters of 10–12 players or at least three homegrown players in rosters of 8–9 players.

[10] An overseas player is a player from outside EEA, FIBA Europe or ACP states. In Liga ACB, the team may register at most two overseas players.

[11] In Liga ACB, the team may register under-22 players linked to the youth system.

[1] "ACB.COM". www.acb.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 August 2024. AFORO: 5.500 espectadores

[2] El nuevo Força Lleida se presenta en sociedad; Solobasket.com, 12 July 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2015. (in Spanish)

[3] "Força Lleida ya es nuevo equipo de Liga Endesa" (in Spanish). 2024-07-16. Retrieved 2024-08-02.

[4] "acb.com". www.acb.com (in Spanish). 2024-06-09. Retrieved 2024-08-02.

[5] "CANVI D'IMATGE I LOGOTIP DEL FORÇA LLEIDA - Força Lleida". flleida.cat (in Catalan). 27 July 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.

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