 | |
| Formerly | Russian Super League 1 |
|---|---|
| Sport | Basketball |
| Founded | 2010 |
| First season | 2010–11 |
| Ceased | 2013 |
| No. of teams | 10 |
| Country | Russia |
| Continent | FIBA Europe (Europe) |
| Most titles | CSKA Moscow (3 titles) |
| Level onpyramid | 1 |
| Related competitions | VTB United League Russian Super League 1 Russian Cup |
| Official website | www.PBLeague.ru |
TheProfessional Basketball League (Russian:Профессиональная баскетбольная лига (ПБЛ),romanized: Professionalnaya basketbolnaya liga), often abbreviated to theRPBL, was the pre-eminent men's professionalbasketball league in Russia, and the successor to theRussian Super League 1, which is now the second-tier division of theRussian basketball league system.
The PBL was the second version of theRussian Professional Basketball Championship.
Established in 2010, the league contained 10 teams in its inaugural2010–11 season. 9 of those teams participated in the 2009–10 season ofRussian Super League 1, and the 10th team wasNizhny Novgorod.[citation needed]
The2011–12 season featured 10 teams, like the inaugural season, however, Dynamo Moscow was replaced with the 2011Russian Super League 1 championsSpartak Primorye.[citation needed]
In May 2012, all the PBL clubs gathered to decide which format would be used for the next season, and some club's directors raised the possibility of merging with theVTB United League, to produce greater competition between the Russian basketball clubs. They suggested that the new league would be named theEastern European Professional Basketball League.[1][2][3]
In July 2012, the Council of VTB United League gave a definitive decision. It was decided that the PBL league would continue for one more year, with some of the games of the VTB United League that took place between two Russian clubs being counted as PBL games.[4] Thefirst tier Russian clubs then replaced the PBL with the VTB United League as their new national domestic league, starting with the2013–14 season.[citation needed]
| Season | Champions |
|---|---|
| CSKA Moscow | |
| CSKA Moscow | |
| CSKA Moscow |
