Although football is the number one sport in Spain, basketball is also considered as one of the crowd’s favorite.
The Spanish people must have a different view of basketball today, because of the Spanish basketball player Pau Gasol and his brother, who also plays in the NBA, Marc Gasol.
Because of these two professional NBA players, and because of the achievements of the two, the children in Spain must have been inspired, and this will result for the Spanish basketball to prosper more.
The ACB League History
The Asociacion de Baloncesto, which means Basketball Clubs’ Association in English or otherwise known as the ACB , is the highest basketball league in Spain. It is also considered among the best basketball league in Europe today.
It was formed in 1956, and since then, the association has been active. When the association was formed in 1956, the league’s name wasn’t Asociacion de Baloncesto, it was still Liga Nacional or National League then. However, in 1983, the Liga Nacional has been changed to Asociacion de Baloncesto and the league’s name hasn’t been changed since then.
Facts
The ACB is the preminent men’s professional basketball league in Spain. The league is rated as one of the three “A” level European national domestic leagues in the ULEB Leauge Rankings System. The ACB is composed of 18 different teams that plays under the rules of the FIBA.
The regular season of ACB championships is held every year between October and May, however during the 2007-2008 season, some changes were introduced. The first place in the regular season is granted with direct entrace to the following Euroleague season and the Playoff’s quarterfinals and semifinals reduced the number of matches on the rounds from five to three, were the changes that were introduced in the league in 2007.
Each team of every division has to play all the other teams of its division twice, one game at home and the other game at the opponent’s stadium, which means that the ACB ends after each team has completed the 34 games.
The ACB takes a winter break once each team has played 17 games, of half of its schedule. The Spanish basketball has one unusual feature or the league: the two halves of the season are played in the same order—that is, the order of each team’s first-half fixtures is reprsented in the second half of the season.
Each victory adds one win to the standings and each loss adds one loss to the team’s total. The winner will be the team that has the most won matches in the ranking, and if there is a tie, then the team with the better head-to-head record between the applicable teams win.
The Teams
The Spanish basketball teams that dominated the ACB are the FC Barcelona and the Real Madrid. The FC Barcelona and the Real Madrid have both started paying in the ACB league since 1983. The FC Barcelona had 20 Finals appearances, while Real Madrid had 13.
Among the 20 appearances of the FC Barcelona in the finals, the team won 12 Final championships. On the other hand, the Real Madrid with their 13 appearances in the finals, they have only won 8 finals championship.