What is the Liga ACB?
The Liga ACB — sold as Liga Endesa after its title sponsor — is the top division of Spanish men’s basketball. It is run by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto, an association of the clubs themselves, and entry requires admission as a member by the ACB General Assembly; it sits under the Federación Española de Baloncesto, which runs the second tier, Primera FEB.[1] [2] [4]
How does it work?
Eighteen clubs play a double round-robin of 34 matchdays, then playoffs in quarter-final, semi-final and final series. The 2026–27 season opens with the Supercopa Endesa in Badalona on 19–20 September, runs its regular season from 26–27 September 2026 to 21–23 May 2027, breaks for the Copa del Rey at the Roig Arena in Valencia on 18–21 February, and ends with playoffs from 25 May and a final in late June. Two clubs come up from Primera FEB — its regular-season champion directly and the winner of its Final Four — and two go down; Monbus Obradoiro and Leyma Coruña were admitted as members on 15 July 2026.[3] [4]
Since when does it exist?
The ACB was formed in 1983 when the clubs broke away from the Liga Nacional the federation had run since 1957, and its own records reach back to that first 1956–57 season. Barça lead the all-time list with 17 titles and Real Madrid have 16; the two shared seven of the ten championships to 2025–26, with Valencia Basket (2016–17 and 2025–26) and Baskonia, in the 2020 bubble final in Valencia, the other winners. Valencia’s 2026 title came in a 3–1 final series against Barça, with Jean Montero the Finals MVP.[2] [7] [8]
| Season | Pool / Format | Host cities |
|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | Valencia Basket | Final: 3–1 vs Barça; Finals MVP Jean Montero; second title |
| 2024–25 | Real Madrid | Final: 3–0 vs Valencia Basket |
| 2023–24 | Real Madrid | Final: 3–0 vs UCAM Murcia |
| 2022–23 | Barça | Final: 3–0 vs Real Madrid |
| 2021–22 | Real Madrid | Final: 3–1 vs Barça |
| 2020–21 | Barça | Final: 2–0 vs Real Madrid |
| 2019–20 | Baskonia | Final: 69–67 vs Barça — single-game final, Valencia bubble |
| 2018–19 | Real Madrid | Final: 3–1 vs Barça |
| 2017–18 | Real Madrid | Final: 3–1 vs Baskonia |
| 2016–17 | Valencia Basket | Final: 3–1 vs Real Madrid — first title |
Champions of the last ten seasons.
Why does it matter?
The ACB is the best-attended domestic basketball league in Europe — 6,633 a game in 2024–25, fifth in the world behind the NBA, the EuroLeague, the WNBA and Australia’s NBL — and set records that season with 122,077 spectators on its opening round and 14,818 at the Roig Arena’s ACB debut. Four of the EuroLeague’s 20 clubs for 2026–27 are Spanish and three more play in the EuroCup.[5] [6] [7]
References
- ACB — official site. Accessed September 2026.
- ACB — Palmarés de la Liga Endesa. Accessed September 2026.
- ACB — Las fechas de la temporada 2026–27. Accessed September 2026.
- ACB — Monbus Obradoiro y Leyma Coruña vuelven a ser equipos ACB. Accessed September 2026.
- ACB — Ya se conocen los equipos que disputarán la Euroliga y la EuroCup 2026–27. Accessed September 2026.
- ACB — La 2024–25 registra el mayor debut histórico en asistencia de público. Accessed September 2026.
- Wikipedia — Liga ACB (background). Accessed September 2026.
- Wikipedia — 2025–26 ACB season (background). Accessed September 2026.