Liga Națională (men's basketball)

Liga Națională
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2015–16 Liga Națională (men's basketball)
Sport Basketball
Founded 1932
CEO Horia Păun
No. of teams 13
Country  Romania
Continent European Union
FIBA Europe
Most recent champion(s) Asesoft Ploieşti
Most titles Dinamo Bucureşti
(22 titles)
TV partner(s) Digi Sport
TVR
Related competitions Romanian Basketball Cup
Official website www.frbaschet.ro (Romanian)

The Liga Națională is the top-tier professional basketball league of Romania. There are 13 teams in men's Liga Națională.

The regular season begins in October and is played over a normal round-robin home-and-away basis. The first eight clubs qualify for the play-offs. The play-offs are played using the knock-out format. The quarter-finals, semifinals and finals use "best of five" series since 2014. The last two teams following the regular season are automatically relegated to the Division B.

History

The championship was founded in 1932. The most successful club is Dinamo Bucureşti with 22 titles, followed closely by Steaua Bucureşti with 21. But in recent years Asesoft Ploieşti is the best team in the country, winning the championship seven times in a row from 2004–10 and again in 2012–2014. Asesoft is the only Romanian team who won a European competition, namely the FIBA EuroCup Challenge, in 2005.

Notable Liga Națională players

Romanian basketball had a bright past with three of its former players being inducted in the European Basketball Hall of Fame, as a recognition for their careers. They are:

Current season preview

The 2014–15 season has only 13 teams after Farul Constanţa, Știința București and CS Concordia Chiajna give up their place . Because of this situation one team will not play in every stage. Regarding the international competition Energia Rovinari, U BT Cluj and CSM Oradea will play in EuroChallenge Cup, and Asesoft Ploieşti will play in EuroCup. Also, SCM U Craiova will play in Balkanleague.

Current season teams

Team City Arena Capacity
BC Mures Târgu Mureș Sala Sporturilor Târgu Mureş 2000
CSA Steaua București București Sala Mihai Viteazu 300
Asesoft Ploiești Ploiești Olimpia Sports Hall 3500
Gaz Metan Mediaș Mediaș Sala Sporturilor Mediaș 461
U BT Cluj Cluj Napoca Sala Polivalentă 7308
BC Argeș Pitești Pitești Sala Sporturilor Trivale 2000
BC Timișoara Timișoara Constantin Jude Hall 2200
SCM Universitatea Craiova Craiova Sala Sporturilor Craiova 4215
CSM U Oradea Oradea Arena Antonio Alexe 2000
CSU Atlassib Sibiu Sibiu Sala Transilvania 3000
Timba Timișoara Timișoara Constantin Jude Hall 2200
Energia Rovinari Târgu Jiu Sala Sporturilor Târgu Jiu 1500
Universitatea Cluj Cluj Napoca Sala Polivalentă 7308

Titles

Club Titles Years winners
Dinamo București 22 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1988, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2003
Steaua București 21 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991
Asesoft Ploiești 11 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Universitatea Cluj-Napoca 4 1992, 1993, 1996, 2011
Metalul București 2 1951, 1952
West Petrom Arad 2 2001, 2002
CSU Sibiu 2 1995, 1999
CSU Pitești 1 2000

Latest finals

Season Champion Runner-up Score
2000–01 West Petrom Arad Asesoft Ploiești 3–0
2001–02 West Petrom Arad Dinamo București 3–2
2002–03 Dinamo București West Petrom Arad 3–2
2003–04 Asesoft Ploiești Dinamo București 3–1
2004–05 Asesoft Ploiești Dinamo București 3–1
2005–06 Asesoft Ploiești Universitatea Cluj-Napoca 4–1
2006–07 Asesoft Ploiești Piteşti 4–1
2007–08 Asesoft Ploiești Universitatea Cluj-Napoca 4–3
2008–09 Asesoft Ploiești Timișoara 4-0
2009–10 Asesoft Ploiești Universitatea Cluj-Napoca 4–0
2010–11 Universitatea Cluj-Napoca Asesoft Ploiești 4–2
2011–12 Asesoft Ploiești Timișoara 4–0
2012–13 Asesoft Ploiești Mureș 4–2
2013–14 Asesoft Ploiești Oradea 3–2
2014–15 Asesoft Ploiești Mureș 3–0

See also

External links

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