Sport Basketball CEO Usie Richards | Founded 2007 No. of teams 16 Continent Americas | |
The FIBA Americas League (Portuguese: FIBA Liga das Américas, Spanish: FIBA Liga de las Américas) is an international men's professional basketball club competition played annually by clubs of the Americas. It is organized by FIBA Americas. The first edition started on December 4, 2007.
Contents
The winner of the FIBA Americas League Final Four, the culminating tournament of each season's FIBA Americas League, is crowned as the champion of all of the FIBA Americas zone region. The tournament's final is called the Grand Final. It is the first-tier and most important professional international club basketball competition in the regions of South America (see: South American basketball pyramid), Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. In recent years, the winner of each season's FIBA Americas tournament, played against the winner of each season's European top-tier level EuroLeague competition, at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, in order to determine an official club world cup champion. Currently, the champions of the FIBA Americas League contest the FIBA Intercontinental Cup against the champions of the European 3rd-tier level Champions League competition.
Fiba americas league
History
The Campeonato Sudamericano de Clubes (South American Club Championship), which was founded in 1946, was the first international competition that was played between basketball clubs from South America, and it was the first-tier and most important club competition in South America until 1995, when the new Liga Sudamericana de Básquetbol (South American League) supplanted it in importance from 1996 until 2007. With the emergence of the new FIBA Americas League in December 2007, the South American League became the second-tier international club championship in South America, beginning with the 2008 edition of the competition.
The FIBA Americas League was formed in 2007, as a professional men's basketball club competition, under the organization of FIBA Americas, with the goal of creating a world-class top level multinational basketball league in the Americas region. The league was modeled after the EuroLeague, Europe's top-tier multinational club basketball league. The main reason for creating the league was the promotion and growth of the sport, and the increased level of competition that would come from the creation of a multinational super league in the FIBA Americas region.
Another one of the main goals in the creation of the league was to eventually revive the dormant FIBA Intercontinental Cup, so that clubs from the FIBA Americas region could once again directly compete against top EuroLeague teams in official games, and so that an official world cup championship could once again be contested. FIBA World decided to revive the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in 2013, deciding that the champions of the FIBA Americas League would play against the champions of the EuroLeague, to decide on the world club champion. It was then decided by FIBA World that the tournament would be played every year from then on for the foreseeable future.
Another goal in creating the league was to form a league system of teams that could form a partnership with the EuroLeague and NBA on playing friendly games during the preseason, in the same way that the EuroLeague and NBA teams were already playing against each other during the preseason. This was finally realized in the 2014–15 preseason, when teams from the FIBA Americas League played against teams from both the EuroLeague and the NBA.
Names of the top-tier level Latin American competition
Format
Under the original format, 16 participating clubs were divided in four groups, of four teams each. The top two clubs of each group qualified for the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals winners then played a four-team group stage, in a yet to be determined host city.
Under the current format, the 16 participating clubs are divided in four groups, of four teams each. The top two clubs of each group qualify for the semifinals. The semifinals winners qualify to play at the FIBA Americas League Final Four, in a yet to be determined host city. The final four format was held for the first time in 2014. The last game of the tournament is called the Grand Final.