ULEB

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Union of European Leagues of Basketball (ULEB)

ULEB Logo

Sport Basketball

Founded 1991

Commissioner

Gianluigi Porelli
(September 1991 - March 1998)

Eduardo Portela
(March 1998 - Present)

Country(ies) 16 League Members:
ABA League National League Members

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Croatia

Montenegro

Serbia

Slovenia
Plus The National League Members Of

Austria

Belgium

Czech Republic

France

Germany

Greece

Israel

Italy

Lithuania

Netherlands

Poland

Russia

Spain

Switzerland

United Kingdom

Continent

FIBA Europe Members

Official website ULEB.com

ULEB (acronym of the French Union des Ligues EuropÃ©ennes de Basket-Ball, in English, Union of European Leagues of Basketball) was founded in 1991, with the aim to help in the cooperation and development of European professional club basketball leagues. Its headquarters are located in Barcelona, Spain.

1 History 2 Rules changes 3 16 ULEB league members 4 ULEB Executive Committee members 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

ULEB was founded in June 1991 by the top professional basketball leagues of France (LNB), Italy (LEGA) and Spain (ACB), which were then joined in 1996 by HEBA (Greece). In 1999, the BLB (Belgium), BBL (United Kingdom) and LNBA (Switzerland) were added.

The group then expanded with the BBL of Germany, DBL (Netherlands; then known by the Dutch initialism FEB), and PLK (Poland) in 2001. The ABA (Adriatic League) was added in February 2002, while October 2002 brought in the ABL (Austria). Following that, in June 2003, came the membership of the LKL (Lithuania), then the 2004 membership of the NBL (Czech Republic), and in July 2005, the BSL of Israel joined the ULEB. In 2011, the PBL of Russia also became a member.^[1]

In 2000, ULEB decided to break away from FIBA Europe and begin the new Euroleague competition with the Euroleague 2000-01 season. That first season of the Euroleague featured a five-game series final (instead of the traditional one-game final), but that was dropped after one year. FIBA that same year also formed its own league, called the SuproLeague, but after just one year it was dissolved as the new ULEB Euroleague became the accepted new top tournament in Europe. The KoraÄ‡ Cup and Saporta Cup tournaments were also dissolved and joined into a new ULEB tournament originally called the ULEB Cup, and now known as the Eurocup. The ULEB has had only two Presidents since its inception. Gianluigi Porelli of Italy, between 1991-1998, and the current one, Eduardo Portela of Spain, since 1998.

[edit] Rules changes

ULEB also broke away from the FIBA and adopted rules closer to the NBA, with the NBA's jump ball and 24-second rules being the first to be adopted, in 2002 and 2003, respectively. The hope was the ULEB would play with rules which would favor players and spectators, which the FIBA did not feature.

In 2004, ULEB adopted more rule changes which made their game similar to the NBA. The jump ball rule, which was the NBA rule, would remain similar to the NBA (no possession arrow, unlike FIBA), and NBA-type rules regarding position of the ball in the final two minutes following a time out (center line) and block and charge fouls within 1.22 metres (4') within the basket were added. LEGA A also adopted an instant replay rule which led to the championship being decided by instant replay as a field goal made in the final second of the game which determined if a team had won or had been forced to a deciding game had to be reviewed for minutes by officials.

For 2005, FIBA decided to make the Euroleague part of the FIBA championships, FIBA rules replaced the NBA-type rules, eliminating the jump ball and block-charge arc. FIBA since then reintroduced the block-charge arc effective in 2010 for international competition and no later than 2012 for domestic leagues; at the same time, the trapezoidal free-throw lane historically used by FIBA was replaced by the rectangular area used in the NBA.