English Basketball League

English Basketball League

Current season, competition or edition: 2017-18 English Basketball League season
Sport	Basketball
Founded	2003
Country	England
Continent	FIBA Europe
Most recent champion(s)	Team Northumbria
Level on pyramid	2-5
Domestic cup(s)	National Cup
Official website	Official website

The National Basketball League is a league competition representing professional, semi-professional and amateur basketball clubs from England and Wales. It forms levels 2 to 5 on the British Basketball pyramid, sitting directly below the top tier British Basketball League, which split from the National League in 1987.

The league has teams split across four levels; NBL1 (14 teams), NBL2 (12 teams), NBL3 North and South (20 teams) and NBL4 North, Midlands, South East and South West (40-48 teams).

The league also runs the English Women's Basketball League, with WNBL1 and WNBL2 North and South, and a junior structure with over 450 junior clubs taking part in under-18s, under-16s and under-14s leagues.^[1]

From 1972 until 1987, the National Leagues were the premier league system in England. The leagues now sit parallel with Scottish Basketball Championship forming the second tier of basketball in the United Kingdom.

For a period between 2003 and 2015, competitions were restructured and prefixed with the letters EBL, but the league was rebranded once again as the National Basketball League in time for the 2015/2016 season.

There is no promotion and relegation between the National League and the British Basketball League (BBL), which operates a franchise system. Despite this, several teams have applied to make the step from the League to the BBL in recent years, most notably the Worcester Wolves, the Plymouth Raiders and the Bristol Flyers.

Senior Competitions

National Basketball League - Each club plays the other teams in their division on a home-away basis. Two points are awarded for a win, zero points for a loss. The top 8 teams in NBL1 and NBL2 qualify for their respective Playoff series. The top 4 teams each from NBL3 North and NBL3 South qualify for their Playoff series, and the top 2 teams from each of the four NBL4 leagues qualify for their Playoff series. In NBL2 and NBL3, usually the top 2 teams after regular season play will be promoted to play in the higher league for the next season. For each of the NBL4 leagues, it is usually only the league champion who is promoted.

The Playoffs - The top eight teams in each division compete for the season's final showdown and last piece of silverware. The top four teams have home advantage against the lower placed sides in the quarter-final (1st v 8th, 2nd v 7th, 3rd v 6th & 4th v 5th). The Playoff Finals Weekend is conducted at a neutral venue, and brings together the Playoff finals for all Men's and Women's competitions. The Finals Weekend is now held at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Belle Vue, Manchester.

National Cup - The premier cup competition in England and Wales, the National Cup is open to all NBL teams and played on a straight knockout format at club venues, with the final being held at a neutral venue. Until 2003, all British teams competed in this competition (including BBL teams).

National Trophy - Also known as the NBL Trophy, this is the League Cup competition for NBL1 teams. The teams play a round-robin competition in mini-leagues of 3 or 4 teams. The top team in each group qualifies for the semi finals, after which there is a straight knockout competition to determine the winner.

Patrons Cup - The Patrons' Cup is the League Cup for NBL2 teams, played on a similar basis to the NBL Trophy.

National Shield - Open to all clubs in NBL3 & NBL4 and run on a straight knock-out format with the final held at a neutral venue.^[2]

NBL1 champions

See also

• Basketball in England
• England national basketball team
• Great Britain national basketball team

External links

• Official site of England Basketball, including the English Basketball League

References