Liga Națională (men's basketball)

Liga Națională
Founded 1950 (1950)
First season 1950–51
Country  Romania
Confederation Romanian Basketball Federation
Divisions 3
Number of teams 24
Level on pyramid 1
Domestic cup(s) Romanian Cup
Current champions CSM U Oradea
(2nd title)
(2017–18)
Most championships Dinamo Bucureşti (22 titles)
TV partners Digi Sport
TVR
Website www.frbaschet.ro
2018–19 Liga Națională

The Liga Națională (English: National League) is the top-tier professional basketball league of Romania. Founded in 1950, the winner of the league is crowned the Romanian national champion. Currently, the league exists of 24 teams playing in three different divisions. The most successful club in the league's history is Dinamo Bucureşti, which has won a record 22 titles. Teams from the Liga Națională also participate in European competitions, as they can qualify for the Basketball Champions League and FIBA Europe Cup through their season results.

History

The championship was founded in 1932. The most successful club is Dinamo Bucureşti with 22 titles, followed closely by Steaua Bucureşti with 21. But in recent years Asesoft Ploieşti is the best team in the country, winning the championship seven times in a row from 2004–10 and again in 2012–2014. Asesoft is the only Romanian team who won a European competition, namely the FIBA EuroCup Challenge, in 2005.

Competition format

Until 2018 were in general 12 teams in men's Liga Națională which played the season in 3 rounds. First round consisted of a regular season which began in October and was played over a normal round-robin home-and-away basis. Then the first six clubs at the end of the regular season played a play-off round and the last 6 a play-out round. The first eight clubs (all 6 from the play-off and the first two places from the play-out) qualified for the play-offs. The play-offs are played using the knock-out format. The quarter-finals, semifinals and finals use "best of five" series since 2014. The last two teams following the last 6 teams play-out were automatically relegated to the Liga I.

On 23 May 2018, Board of Directors of the Romanian Basketball Federation decided to reform the system entirely. Following this decision, the second level on the Romanian Basketball pyramid, Liga I was dissolved. In the Liga Națională were formed 3 groups (A, B and C), based on performance, financial and infrastructure criteria.[1]

In the first round of the championship, a regular season is played over a normal round-robin home-and-away basis, in each group. Then in the second round, first 6 teams from the Group A are assigned to the "Red Group"; 7th and 8th placed teams in the Group A, first 3 teams from the Group B and the winner of the Group C, are assigned to the "Yellow Group"; the teams ranked between 4th and 8th place in the Group B and the 2nd place from the Group C, are assigned to the "Blue Group"; finally the teams ranked between 3rd and 8th place in the Group C are assigned to the "Green Group".[2]

In the second round, all the teams from the "Red Group" start with all the points from the regular season, in the rest of the groups, all teams will start with zero points.[2]

In the third round of the championship, the first 2 teams from the "Yellow Group" will enter along with the "Red Group" teams in the play-offs. The play-offs are played using the knock-out format. The quarter-finals, semifinals and finals use "best of five" series. To determine the teams ranked between 5th and 8th place, is used the "best of three" system. The other remaining teams form two 8 team groups to determine the final classification.[2]

Notable Liga Națională players

Romanian basketball had a bright past with three of its former players being inducted in the European Basketball Hall of Fame, as a recognition for their careers. They are:

Titles

ClubTitlesWinning years
Dinamo București221953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1988, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2003
Steaua București211956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991
CSU Ploiești112004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
U Cluj-Napoca51992, 1993, 1996, 2011, 2017
West Petrom Arad22001, 2002
CSU Sibiu21995, 1999
CSM U Oradea22016, 2018
BCM U Pitești12000
Metalul București11952
Rapid București11951

Latest finals

SeasonChampionRunner-upScore
2000–01West Petrom AradAsesoft Ploiești3–0
2001–02West Petrom AradDinamo București3–2
2002–03Dinamo BucureștiWest Petrom Arad3–2
2003–04Asesoft PloieștiDinamo București3–1
2004–05Asesoft PloieștiDinamo București3–1
2005–06Asesoft PloieștiUniversitatea Cluj-Napoca4–1
2006–07Asesoft PloieștiPiteşti4–1
2007–08Asesoft PloieștiUniversitatea Cluj-Napoca4–3
2008–09Asesoft PloieștiTimișoara4-0
2009–10Asesoft PloieștiUniversitatea Cluj-Napoca4–0
2010–11Universitatea Cluj-NapocaAsesoft Ploiești4–2
2011–12Asesoft PloieștiTimișoara4–0
2012–13Asesoft PloieștiMureș4–2
2013–14Asesoft PloieștiCSM Oradea3–2
2014–15Asesoft PloieștiMureș3–0
2015–16CSM U OradeaMureș3–2
2016–17U-Banca TransilvaniaSteaua CSM Eximbank3–0
2017–18CSM U OradeaSteaua CSM Eximbank3–1

See also

References

  1. ↑ Decizii ale Consiliului Director din 23.05.2018. frbaschet.ro (in Romanian)
  2. 1 2 3 "Cum va arăta Liga Națională de Baschet Masculin sezonul viitor". totalbaschet.ro. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
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