The Premier A Slovenian Basketball League ( sl, 1. slovenska košarkarska liga), abbreviated as 1. SKL and known as the Liga Nova KBM due to sponsorship reasons, is the top-level professional men's

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 ...

league in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. The league, operated by the

Basketball Federation of Slovenia The Basketball Federation of Slovenia ( sl, Košarkarska zveza Slovenije) also known as KZS is the governing body of basketball in Slovenia. It was founded in 1950 as a member of the larger Yugoslav Basketball Federation (see also: Basketball in ...

, consists of eleven clubs. The most successful team is

Cedevita Olimpija Košarkarski klub Cedevita Olimpija ( en, Cedevita Olimpija Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Cedevita Olimpija or simply Olimpija, is a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The club competes in the ABA Le ...

with 19 titles.

History

The league was founded in 1991, shortly after Slovenia's independence from SFR Yugoslavia. Before the independence, the Slovenian Republic League was played as a second or third level of Yugoslav basketball. Olimpija,

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, Slovan,

ŽKK Maribor Železničarski košarkarski klub Maribor, commonly referred to as ŽKK Maribor or simply ŽKK, was a basketball team based in Maribor, Slovenia. The club was founded in 1946 and was dissolved after the 2005–06 season due to financial difficulti ...

, Lesonit, and Branik Maribor were the only Slovenian teams that played in the Yugoslav First Federal League.

Names

Since 1991, the league has been named after sponsors on several occasions, giving it the following names: *Liga Kolinska (1998–2001) *HYPO Liga (2001–2002) *1. A SKL (2002–2006) *Liga UPC Telemach (2006–2009) *Liga Telemach (2009–2016) *Liga Nova KBM (2016–2019) *1. SKL (2019–2020) *Liga Nova KBM (2020) *1. SKL (2020–21) *Liga Nova KBM (2021–present)

Competition format

In the regular season, ten teams play each other three times for a total of 27 games. If a team competes in international competitions (

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Intercontin ...

, EuroLeague or EuroCup Basketball) and plays at least ten international games per season, that team automatically enters the quarterfinals and does not compete in the regular season. The bottom-placed team of the regular season is relegated to the 2. SKL. The top seven teams from the regular season advance to the quarterfinals and are joined by a team that did not compete in the regular season. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, a best-of-three

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

is used. The semifinal winners advance to the best-of-five championship finals, with the winners being crowned league champion.

Current teams

''As of the 2022–23 season''

Finals

Titles by club

Finals appearances

Statistical leaders

References

External links

*
Slovenian League on Eurobasket.com
{{Men's professional basketball leagues 1

Sports leagues established in 1991 1991 establishments in Slovenia Professional sports leagues in Slovenia