The North European Basketball League, or Northern European Basketball League (NEBL), was a short-lived regional professional basketball league. It was founded in 1998, by Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Dmitry Buriak. The league was the first commercial project of a regional league in Europe, and initially intended for participation of the best basketball teams from five countries -

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, Estonia,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, and Finland.

History

In 1999, the first North European Basketball League competition took place, involving eight teams, from the aforementioned countries. Eventually, the tournament started to lose its regional characteristics, as it began involving more clubs from Central ( Poland, Czech Republic), Western ( Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, UK), and Eastern ( Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) Europe; then, from Southern Europe ( Bulgaria,

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

, Romania, Serbia), and even from Israel and Turkey. There were 31 teams, from 19 countries (from Israel to UK), participating in the 2001–02 season's tournament. The Final Four of the NEBL, was always played in Vilnius, Lithuania. By 2002, top clubs like CSKA Moscow, Žalgiris, and Maccabi, had lost their interest in the competition, in favor of the newly organized, and much more commercially attractive, EuroLeague. In the season 2002–03 season, a body (group stage) of the tournament was not held – the four best teams of the Northern Conference FIBA Champions Cup played for the last NEBL title in a Final Four. The NEBL would later be transformed (since 2004) into Baltic Basketball League (BBL), with basketball teams from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia participating in it.

Seasons

External links

NEBL slogan: Break the ice!
20 April 2000 The Baltic Times. {{Men's professional basketball leagues Defunct multi-national basketball leagues in Europe 1998 establishments in Europe 2003 disestablishments in Europe Sports leagues established in 1998 Sports leagues disestablished in 2003 Basketball leagues in Lithuania Basketball leagues in Latvia Basketball leagues in Estonia Basketball leagues in Belarus Basketball leagues in Ukraine Basketball leagues in Russia Sport in the Baltic states

History

Seasons

See also

External links