Balkan International Basketball League
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023–24 BIBL season
BIBL Official Logo
SportBasketball
Founded2008
No. of teamsVariable by season
CountriesCurrent countries
 Bulgaria
 Cyprus
 Israel
 Kosovo
 Montenegro
 North Macedonia
Former countries
ContinentFIBA Europe (Europe)
Most recent
champion(s)		Israel Hapoel Be'er Sheva/Dimona (1st title)
Most titlesBulgaria Levski Sofia (3 titles)
TV partner(s)RIK 2
sportmedia.tv
YouTube
RTSH
Official websitebalkanleague.net

The Balkan International Basketball League (BIBL), also known as the Balkan League and as the Delasport BIBL Balkan League for sponsorship reasons, is a multinational professional basketball league that features mostly clubs from the Balkans. The league included teams from countries as Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Cyprus and Israel. The most recent league champion is Hapoel Be'er Sheva B.C. from Israel.

The purpose of the Balkan International Basketball League is to provide competitive international play for clubs in the Balkans that would otherwise be unable to participate in international basketball. The league achieves this by providing financial support to all participating clubs in order to ease the costs that make international play difficult.[1] Among other milestones, the league is also the first international league of its kind to include teams from Kosovo.

Format

After the 2017–2018 season, the Balkan International Basketball League introduced a new, simplified competition format. Under this format, the competition now typically features a total of between 6 – 8 teams and the tournament is divided into two phases: the regular season, whereby all participating teams will play each other in a double round robin both home and away and following the regular season's conclusion, the first and second placed teams will automatically qualify to the Final Four, whereas the third placed team will have to play the sixth placed team and the fourth will play the fifth at home and away to determine which team will advance to the Final Four. After this, the winning teams will advance to the final four to determined that season's BIBL Balkan League champions.[2]

Additionally, at the start of the 2020–2021 season 12 teams from Israel participated in the league in order to have access to competitive games during the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

Championships

SeasonHostChampionResultRunner-upArena
2008–09 Bulgaria SamokovBulgaria Rilski Sportist84–77North Macedonia Feršped RabotničkiArena Samokov
2009–10 Bulgaria SofiaBulgaria Levski Sofia77–65Montenegro LovćenUniversiada Hall
2010–11 North Macedonia KavadarciNorth Macedonia Feni Industries88–75Bulgaria Rilski SportistJasmin Sports Hall
2011–12 Israel Gan NerIsrael Hapoel Gilboa Galil89–84Bulgaria Levski SofiaGan Ner Sports Hall
2012–13 Bulgaria SamokovIsrael Hapoel Gilboa Galil87–79Bulgaria Levski SofiaArena Samokov
2013–14 Kosovo PristinaBulgaria Levski Sofia75–69Israel Hapoel Gilboa GalilPallati i Rinisë dhe Sporteve
2014–15 Kosovo Pristina
Bulgaria Samokov		Kosovo Sigal Prishtina74−72
80–71		Bulgaria Rilski SportistPallati i Rinisë dhe Sporteve
Arena Samokov
2015–16 Kosovo Pristina
Montenegro Bar		Kosovo Sigal Prishtina82−68
68−75		Montenegro MornarPallati i Rinisë dhe Sporteve
Sportska dvorana Topolica
2016–17 Bulgaria Stara Zagora
North Macedonia Kumanovo		Bulgaria Beroe84−55
77−73		North Macedonia KumanovoObshtinska zala Ivan Vazov
Sports Hall Kumanovo
2017–18 Bulgaria SamokovBulgaria Levski Sofia83−72Kosovo BashkimiArena Samokov
2018–19 Albania TiranaNorth Macedonia Blokotehna82–68Albania TeutaFeti Borova Sport Hall
2019–20 Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 Israel HolonIsrael Hapoel Holon91–75Bulgaria Academic PlovdivHolon Toto Hall
2021–22 Israel NahariyaIsrael Hapoel Galil Elyon86–70Israel Maccabi HaifaEin Sara Sport Hall
2022–23 Bulgaria Stara ZagoraIsrael Hapoel Be'er Sheva/Dimona99−95Kosovo PejaObshtinska zala Ivan Vazov

Titles by club

ClubChampionshipsRunner-upsChampionship years
1 Bulgaria Levski Sofia32 2009–10, 2013–14, 2017–18
2 Israel Hapoel Gilboa Galil21 2011–12, 2012–13
3 Kosovo Sigal Prishtina2— 2014–15, 2015–16
4 Bulgaria Rilski Sportist122008–09
5 North Macedonia Feni Industries1— 2010–11
Bulgaria Beroe2016–17
North Macedonia Blokotehna2018–19
Israel Hapoel Holon2020–21
Israel Hapoel Galil Elyon2021–22
Israel Hapoel Be'er Sheva/Dimona2022–23
10 North Macedonia Feršped Rabotnički—1
Montenegro Lovćen
Montenegro Mornar
North Macedonia Kumanovo
Kosovo Bashkimi
Albania Teuta
Bulgaria Academic Plovdiv
Israel Maccabi Haifa
Kosovo Peja

Titles by country

CountryChampionshipsRunner-upsChampionship years
1  Bulgaria55 2008–09, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18
2  Israel522011–12, 2012–13, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
3  North Macedonia222011–12, 2018–19
 Kosovo222014–15, 2015–16
5  Montenegro—2
6  Albania—1

Clubs (2023-24 season)

Team Arena Capacity Country
AEL Limassol B.C. Nicos Solomonides Arena 2,500  Limassol, CYP
Sigal Prishtina Palace of Youth and Sports 3,000  Pristina, KOS
KK Lovćen 1947 Sportski Center Cetinje 1,500  Lovćen, MNE
KK Pljevlja Sport Cener Ada 3,500  Pljevlja, MNE
KB Peja Karagaq Sports Hall 3,000  Peja, KOS

References

  1. ↑ "BIBL 10th season – road from 2008-2009 to 2017-2018".
  2. ↑ "BIBL 10th season 2017-2018 New Competition System".
  3. ↑ "Balkan League moving to Israel with the addition of 12 Winner League teams". 2 October 2020.
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