Best Professional Basketball Leagues in Europe

As in the last few decades, European basketball has made a huge jump in it`s level of development, leagues here have become stronger and stronger. Legionnaires from the USA, who play in Europe, have also made a contribution. As professional basketball is closely connected to money and the financial background of countries, the level of leagues varies to the extremes. Yet, weaker leagues play an important part as they provide a stepping stone to big basketball. Naturally an unknown player has to prove himself/herself a lot when playing there for a small salary and with meager living conditions, in order to earn a better contract with a richer club for the next season. In the case of Americans, their capability to adapt to the European style, which focuses a lot more on the team and is mostly based on combinations, has become fatal. But those who have been able to adapt, ha mostly had a successful career in different European leagues.

But what are the strongest basketball leagues of Europe with tough competition and large salaries? Probably the number one league is the large and strong Spanish ACB. The league includes 18 teams and 8 of them participate in the Euroleague and Eurocup organized by ULEB. Of the Spanish league, 5 teams are specifically involved in Euroleague, which is the largest number of teams from one country. The strength of the Spanish basketball league should also be shown by the level of their national team, which according to the FIBA ranking, is the second in the world after USA! It is difficult to rank the following leagues very specifically, because the level is quite the same and may alter depending on the season. Certainly one of the “big ones” is Italy. The strongest league of the boot-shaped country is called “Serie A” and it includes 16 teams. From Italy, 3 teams are involved in Euroleague, the best of those in the latter years has been Siena Montepaschi. Certainly it is very difficult to get in to the Italian league and competition there is tough.

Greece is basically on the same level as Italy. The league includes 14 teams, but for the last decades, Greek basketball has been ruled by two main forces – Olympiakos and Panatinaikos. Also according to the FIBA ranking, the Greek national team is the second in Europe. Strong leagues certainly include Russia. Although the ruler of the Russian basketball is CSKA, the competition between other clubs is extremely dense. Also teams there have good financial means, which enable bringing many good players to the teams. John Robert Holden is one true success story of how an American player can have a dream-career in Europe. This man is still one of the main players of Moscow CSKA and has even been in the Russian national team. Also he is one of the players with the longest experience in Euroleague. The Russian home league includes about 10 teams and all teams are also involved in different European leagues such as Euroleague, Eurocup, EuroChallenge and VTB United League. Russian basketball is developing very quickly and is getting stronger with every year. With the last ten years, it has risen to the absolute top of Europe. Next I would bring out the French league “ProA”, which includes a total of 16 teams all over France. This may not be the strongest league in Europe, but it is very powerful and a bit different from the rest of Europe. That league is closely observed by NBA agents. France does not ha a prevalent team, which would be in the top of Euroleague. Yet, the level is very even and it the annual champion cannot be predicted for sure. The champion club in the French league also gets a spot in Euroleague for the next season. Weaker European leagues include 7 other clubs from France, respectively 3 in Eurocup and 5 in EuroChallenge. Some other strong European basketball leagues worth mentioning are certainly Turkey, Lithuania, Germany, Serbia, Slovakia, Israel and why not Ukraine. As can be told, the level of the average clubs is very even and a specific ranking is difficult to establish. Maybe the 5 leagues mentioned first are above others, but the next 10 are also very strong and the competition is very dense. But in European basketball, very many great players begin from the weaker leagues for establishing a good reputation and earning a good contract in the future.