Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

is a popular sport, with a multi-tiered professional

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

league system, as well as men's and women's national teams.

Professional league structure

Israeli Basketball Premier League

Ligat HaAl or the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

, is the top tier level league of basketball competition in Israel, making it Israel's primary basketball competition. Ligat HaAl comprises the top twelve basketball clubs, and was founded in 1954.

Liga Leumit

Liga Leumit Liga Leumit ( he, ליגה לאומית, lit. ''National League'') is the second division of the Israeli Football League, and below its Premier League. Structure There are 16 clubs in the league. At the end of each season, the two lowest-place ...

is the second tier level league of basketball competition. The league contains 14 clubs that compete in a home-and-away round-robin. At the end of the season, the top eight clubs advance to the play-offs. The first round is played on a best-of-three basis. The four winning clubs advance to two best-of-five playoffs, the winners of which are promoted to the Super League. The two teams that finish at the bottom of the table are relegated to Liga Artzit.

Liga Artzit

Liga Artzit Liga Artzit ( he, ליגה ארצית, lit. ''Country League'') is the defunct third division of Israeli Football League, beneath its highest division Premier League and the second division Liga Leumit. Before being cancelled in 2009, it was run b ...

is the third tier level league of basketball competition. The league contains 24 clubs (in two districts of 12 teams each one), which compete in a home-and-away round-robin. At the end of the season, the first team from each district (South/North) is promoted to the Liga Leumit. The two teams that finish at the bottom of the table are relegated to Liga Alef.

Liga Alef

Liga Alef is the fourth tier in Israeli Basketball.

Liga Bet

Liga Bet is the fifth and lowest level tier in Israeli Basketball.

State Cups

Israeli Basketball State Cup

The

Israeli Basketball State Cup The Israeli Basketball State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה בכדורסל) is the second most important professional basketball competition in Israel, after the Israeli Basketball Super League, Israeli Super League. It is the national federation ...

is the second most important basketball competition in Israel, after Ligat HaAl. The tournament began in 1956, and is run by the IBA. The tournament format consists rounds each consisting of one game elimination matches.

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

has won the most tournaments, having won 45, last winning the contest in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season.

Israeli Basketball National League Cup

The tournament cup for teams from the second division. tournament held since 2021.

Israeli Basketball League Cup

The

Israeli Basketball League Cup The Israeli Basketball League Cup is a pre-season professional basketball tournament that is contested between clubs. It has been held in Israel since 2006. It is held during the week before the start of the Israeli Premier League season. The Isra ...

is a pre-season basketball tournament held since 2006. It is held the week before the Ligat HaAl season.

Men's team title holders

Israel national basketball teams

The combined Men's and Women's basket team is ranked 55th in the world, and 23rd in the Europe.

Men's

The

Israel national basketball team The Israel men's national basketball team ( he, נבחרת ישראל בכדורסל) represents Israel in international basketball tournaments. They are administered by the Israeli Basketball Association. Israel is currently ranked 33rd in the ...

is a men's basketball team that represents Israel in international competitions. The Israeli team has participated 28 times in the European championship tournament. Their best achievements were a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in 1979, and 5th place in 1953 and 1977. Israel is currently ranked 37th in the world by

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

, and 14th in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(''July 2014''). Israel will also be the host nation of the competition in 2017.

Women's

The

Israel women's national basketball team The Israel women's national basketball team represents Israel in international women's basketball matches and is controlled by the Israel Basketball Association. Israel have hosted the FIBA Women's EuroBasket in 1991, and will host it again in ...

is a women's basketball team that represents Israel in international competitions. The women's team is ranked 36th in the world, and 16th in Europe. (July 2014) They have competed in the EuroBasket Women's tournament 6 times, but have won no metals. Their highest ever finish was 8th place in 1991.

All-time participation table

Combined table of men's and women's basketball teams, both senior and youth teams. Not included two discontinued competitions: Men's U-21 World Championship (three participations in four editions) and Women's U-21 World Championship for Women (one participation in two editions). Not included either,

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fir ...

Arenas

There are Seven main and Big basketball arenas in Israel which are: * Ashkelon Sports Arena *

Conch Arena Conch Arena ( he, אולם הקונכייה, ''Ulam HaKunchiya'') is a multi-purpose sports arena that was built in Be'er Sheva, Israel, by the city council and National Lottery grant of Mifal HaPais. The arena is located in Be'er Sheva's Sports ...

Drive in Arena The Drive in Arena ( he, היכל הדרייב אין), officially named Shlomo Group Arena ( he, היכל קבוצת שלמה) due to commercial sponsorship, is a multi-purpose hall in the northern part of Tel Aviv. Built on the grounds of wha ...

Holon Toto Hall Holon Toto Hall is an indoor arena that is located in the Tel Aviv District city of Holon, Israel. The arena is mainly used to host basketball games. It has a seating capacity of 5,500. History Holon Toto Hall was opened in March 2015. In 2016, ...

Menora Mivtachim Arena Menora Mivtachim Arena ( he, היכל מנורה מבטחים; also known as the Yad Eliyahu Arena, ; and formerly known as the Nokia Arena, ) is a large multi-purpose sports indoor arena that is located in southeast Tel Aviv, Israel. The arena is ...

Pais Arena Jerusalem The Jerusalem Arena ( he, הארנה ירושלים, ''HaArena Yerushalayim''), renamed for the National Lottery Mifal HaPais grant as Pais Arena Jerusalem ( he, פיס ארנה ירושלים, ''HaPais Arena Yerushalayim''), is a multi-purpose s ...

Romema Arena The Romema Arena ( he, היכל הספורט העירוני רוממה) is a multi-purpose arena in Haifa, Israel. The arena is home to Hapoel Haifa basketball club and to Maccabi Haifa basketball club, a members of both the Hapoel Haifa and Macc ...

Israel Basketball Association

The IBA is the official governing body of basketball in Israel. The organization oversees every aspect of the sport including: *Team and player registration, *League rules, *Issuing league schedules *Certifying match results *Referees and Statisticians certification, and *The National team. The IBA also handles associating with international bodies such as

and

Euroleague Basketball (company) Euroleague Basketball is the private company that runs and operates the top continental-wide basketball men's professional sports club competitions in Europe, the first-tier level EuroLeague, and the second-tier level EuroCup. It has been org ...

(who organizes the Euroleague).

NBA connections

Amare Stoudemire

Amare Stoudemire Amar'e Carsares Stoudemire ( ; he, אמארה יהושפט סטודמאייר; born November 16, 1982) is an American-Israeli professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as a player development assistant for the Bro ...

, from the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

, best known for his time with the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

and

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

, in the summer of 2013, became a major shareholder of Hapoel Jerusalem Basketball Club together with sports agent

Arn Tellem Arn Herschel Tellem

and Ori Allon. The team moved into its new home, the

Jerusalem Arena The Jerusalem Arena ( he, הארנה ירושלים, ''HaArena Yerushalayim''), renamed for the National Lottery Mifal HaPais grant as Pais Arena Jerusalem ( he, פיס ארנה ירושלים, ''HaPais Arena Yerushalayim''), is a multi-purpose s ...

, in August 2014. Stoudemire, in the summer of 2014 was scheduled to conduct his first camp in Israel, in Tel Aviv. Due to

Operation Protective Edge The 2014 Gaza War, also known as Operation Protective Edge ( he, מִבְצָע צוּק אֵיתָן, translit=Miv'tza Tzuk Eitan, ), was a military operation launched by Israel on 8 July 2014 in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territories, Pale ...

he canceled the camp on 14 July. He ended up playing for Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

NBA/WNBA players from Israel

Omri Casspi Omri Moshe Casspi ( he, עומרי משה כספי, born June 22, 1988) is an Israeli former professional basketball player. He mainly played at the small forward position, but could play also at the power forward position. Casspi was drafted 23 ...

played for seven different teams over a ten-year NBA career. He was drafted 23rd overall in the

2009 NBA draft The 2009 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2009, at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, the National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eli ...

, making him the first Israeli to be selected in the first round of an NBA draft.

Gal Mekel Gal Mekel ( he, גל מקל, pronounced ; born March 4, 1988) is an Israeli former professional basketball player. He played for the Dallas Mavericks and spent time in Europe and Israel. He played college basketball for two years at Wichita Sta ...

, returned to Israel in 2016 after previously playing for the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

and

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

. He previously played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for two years at

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

Shay Doron Shay Doron ( he, שי דורון) (born April 1, 1985) is an Israeli professional basketball player in the Israeli league. She currently plays for Maccabi Ashdod. Biography Doron was born in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, to Yehuda and Tamari Doron. Fo ...

, in 2007 played for the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was f ...

References

{{Basketball in Europe by country