The Prva A liga, for sponsorships reasons named the Erste Liga, is the top-tier professional basketball league in Montenegro. It is the highest basketball division organized by the Basketball Association of Montenegro (KSCG). It was established in 2006. shortly after Montenegro declared its independence from Serbia and Montenegro.
The league is sponsored by and named after Erste Bank. Currently, two clubs from the area are playing in the regional ABA League. The most successful club in the Prva A liga is Budućnost Podgorica, which has won 14 titles, after winning the 2022 championship.
History Before independence During their history, many Montenegrin basketball clubs played in the top-tier basketball leagues of SFR Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia, and Serbia and Montenegro, including Budućnost, Lovćen, Sutjeska, Mornar, KK Primorka, KK Berane, Jedinstvo, and KK Temko Nikšić.
1946–1991: SFR Yugoslavia From 1946 to 1991, two clubs from Montenegro, Berane (formerly KK Ivangrad) and Budućnost, played in the First Federal Basketball League. Others played in the Second Yugoslav League (during the 80's - First B League) and the Republic League.
Budućnost played in the First League during the nine seasons, with third place on the 1985–86 season as their biggest success at that time.
Below is the list of all-time participants of Montenegrin clubs in the First Yugoslav League.
Club 66 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 91 Berane 12 - - - - - - - - - Budućnost - 8 8 10 8 7 3 9 12 10
1992–2006: Serbia and Montenegro After the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia, until the Montenegrin independence in 2006, eight different Montenegrin teams participated in the First League of FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro (YUBA League). Budućnost is the only team which played every single season in that competition, winning the three champion titles. Except them, Lovćen, Mornar, Sutjeska and Primorka are the only teams which participated in more than one season at the highest rank.
During that period, Budućnost became a founder of ABA League, too, where they play an important role until today. At the same time, Budućnost played its first seasons in Euroleague with the quarterfinals as their biggest success in the history of competition.
Below is the list of all-time participants of Montenegrin clubs in the YUBA League. Club 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 Budućnost 10 10 11 16 2 4 2 1 1 1 2 4 5 7 6 Lovćen - 9 10 14 11 8 6 9 9 4 5 6 8 18 - Mornar - - 7 11 12 7 14 - - - - - - 12 9 Sutjeska - - - 8 - - - - 12 - - - - 16 - Jedinstvo - - - 15 - - - - - - - - - - - Berane - - - 27 - - - - - - - - - - - Temko - - - 29 - - - - - - - - - - - Primorka - - - - - - - - - - 11 - - - 17 As the most successful Montenegrin basketball team, Budućnost won three national titles in the First League of Yugoslavia. Club Winners Runners-up Winning years KK Budućnost Podgorica 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01
After independence Soon after the Montenegrin independence referendum, Basketball Federation of Montenegro founded its own competitions, with the First League as a top-tier competition. During the all history, KK Budućnost was strongly dominant side. Every season have two parts. During the first part, 8 to 10 clubs are playing league, without teams who are playing in ABA League. Until the season 2019-2020, in the second part, four best-placed teams from the league and two Montenegrin clubs from ABA League were competing in Superliga and four best-placed sides from that phase were participating in playoffs. Final series of playoffs is lasting until three wins of one opponent. From season 2006-07 to 2016-17, every single champions' title won KK Budućnost. From 2006 to 2012, team from Podgorica created an impressive row of 89 wins with only one defeat in domestic championship. Except that, until 2015, team from Podgorica won every playoff final series with 3-0. On season 2015-16, during the regular phase of the championship, game between KK Ulcinj and KK Jedinstvo finished with result 127-23. That was the biggest victory in the history of Montenegrin Championship. Except that, KK Ulcinj's player Miloš Popović on the same game scored 59 points, which is another all-time record of Montenegrin League. An unexpected change came on season 2017-18, when KK Mornar won their first ever national title. In the finals, they surprisingly won the series against ABA League title holder - KK Budućnost (3-1). Budućnost made a comeback on season 2018-19, defeating Mornar in the finals. During 2019, Montenegrin basketball federation implemented a new system of competition. Instead Superliga as the second phase, two best teams from the first part of season and two Montenegrin representatives in ABA League are directly qualifying for the playoff series. Season 2019-20 was interrupted after 20 weeks, due to the coronavirus pandemic and Montenegrin basketball federation decided to erase every single result from that edition of competition.
Champions Since the establishing of competition, only two teams won the titles of Montenegrin champion. In 2018, Mornar was the second team to win the league after a streak of 11 consecutive trophies achieved by Budućnost.
Titles by season Below is the list of final series of Montenegrin Basketball League playoffs. Season Champion Score Runner-up Champion's Coach Player of the season2006–07 Budućnost 3–0 Lovćen Dejan Radonjić Vladimir Micov (Budućnost)2007–08 Budućnost3–0 Mogren Dejan Radonjić Nikola Otašević (Budućnost)2008–09 Budućnost 3–0 Primorje Dejan Radonjić Nikola Otašević (Budućnost)2009–10 Budućnost 3–0 Lovćen Dejan Radonjić Čedomir Vitkovac (Budućnost)2010–11 Budućnost 3–0 Mornar Dejan Radonjić Vladimir Dragičević (Budućnost)2011–12 Budućnost 3–0 Sutjeska Dejan Radonjić Bojan Dubljević (Budućnost)2012–13 Budućnost 3–0 Sutjeska Dejan Radonjić Aleksa Popović (Budućnost)2013–14 Budućnost 3–0 Zeta Igor Jovović Suad Šehović (Budućnost)2014–15 Budućnost 3–1 Sutjeska Igor Jovović J. R. Reynolds (Budućnost)2015–16 Budućnost 3–1 Mornar Igor Đaletić Julius Jenkins (Budućnost)2016–17 Budućnost 3–2 Mornar Igor Đaletić Nemanja Gordić (Budućnost)2017–18 Mornar 3–1 Budućnost Mihailo Pavićević Derek Needham (Mornar)2018–19 Budućnost 3–2 Mornar Petar Mijović 2019–20 Canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic2020–21 Budućnost 3–0 Mornar Dejan Milojević 2021–22 Budućnost 3–2 Mornar Aleksandar Džikić 2022–23 Budućnost 3–0 Studentski Centar Petar Mijović 2023–24 Budućnost 3–1 SC Derby Andrej Žakelj 2024–25 Budućnost 2–0 SC Derby Andrej Žakelj 2025–26 Budućnost 2–0 SC Derby Andrej Žakelj
Titles by Club Montenegrin League Below is a list of clubs with titles won in Montenegrin Basketball League. Club Titles Runners-up Years won Budućnost 18 1 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 Mornar 1 6 2018
Overall Below is an overall list, with titles won in both leagues - Montenegrin Basketball League and FR Yugoslavia / Serbia and Montenegro Championship. Club Titles Runners-up Years won Budućnost 21 2 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, from 2006–07 to 2016–17, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25, 2025-26 Mornar 1 6 2018
Performances by clubs Final placements Since establishing, in Montenegrin basketball league participated 21 different teams. Club which played every single season until now are KK Budućnost, KK Jedinstvo, KK Lovćen, KK Mornar and KK Ulcinj. Club 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 ABS Primorje - 4 5 8 9 7 9 9 11 - - - - - - All Stars - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12 - Budućnost 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 Centar - - - - - - 11 11 - - - - - - - Danilovgrad 5 6 4 7 7 10 10 - 9 10 10 9 10 11 9 Gorštak - - - 6 10 - - - - - - - - - - Ibar - - - - - - 8 7 5 7 5 7 7 8 11 Jedinstvo 8 9 9 10 6 9 7 8 8 8 9 8 6 10 6 Lovćen 2 5 7 2 3 4 6 6 10 6 4 4 4 4 7 Ljubović - - - - 11 - - - - - - - - - - Mornar 4 8 6 3 2 3 5 2 4 2 2 1 2 2 2 Mogren 7 2 8 9 8 - - - - - - - - - - Milenijum - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10 Podgorica - - - - - 8 - - - - - - - 6 4 Pljevlja - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13 - Primorje 1945 - 11 2 11 - - - - - - 11 10 8 7 8 Rudar - 10 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - SC Derby - - - - - - - - - 9 8 11 9 3 3 Stršljen - - - - - - - - - 11 - - - - - Sutjeska 6 3 11 - - 2 2 5 2 3 6 3 3 5 5 Teodo - - - 5 5 6 3 4 3 4 3 5 - 9 12 Ulcinj 3 7 3 4 4 5 4 10 7 5 7 6 5 - - Zeta - - - - - - - 2 6 - - - 11 14 -
All-time table All-time Montenegrin First League table is a ranking of all Montenegrin basketball clubs based on their performance in national top tier. Highlighted clubs played in the First League in the 2021/22 season.
RankClubTownSeasonsGamesWLWin%1 KK Budućnost Podgorica 15 211 194 17 92% 152 KK Mornar Bar 15 354 224 130 63% 123 KK Lovćen Cetinje 15 409 252 157 62% 84 KK Podgorica Podgorica 3 67 39 28 58% 15 KK Teodo Tivat 11 290 162 128 58% 56 KK Sutjeska Nikšić 13 338 194 144 57% 77 KK Ulcinj Ulcinj 13 359 189 170 53% 58 KK Ibar Rožaje 9 209 97 112 47% 09 KK Mogren Budva 5 137 63 74 46% 110 SC Derby Podgorica 6 131 59 72 45% 211 KK Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje 15 366 148 218 41% 012 KK Danilovgrad Danilovgrad 14 336 131 205 39% 113 KK Zeta Golubovci 4 107 40 67 38% 114 KK ABS Primorje Herceg Novi 8 209 76 133 36% 115 KK Primorje 1945 Herceg Novi 8 188 66 122 35% 116 KK Milenijum Podgorica 1 17 6 11 35% 017 KK Gorštak Kolašin 2 54 15 39 28% 018 All Stars Spuž 1 22 6 16 27% 019 KK Centar Bijelo Polje 2 52 12 40 23% 020 KK Ljubović Podgorica 1 18 3 15 17% 021 KK Rudar Pljevlja 2 52 7 45 14% 022 KK Stršljen Gusinje 1 24 3 21 13% 022 Pljevlja Pljevlja 1 22 2 20 9% 0
Including current season (2021/22) Playout games against teams from Prva B Liga are not counted
Attendances by season Season Avg Overall M H CH CL 2006–07 562 64,700 115 2,500 Ulcinj (1,071) Nikšić (379) 2007–08 452 66,900 148 2,000 Ulcinj (736) Primorje 1945 (313) 2008–09 456 69,700 153 1,500 Ulcinj (1,006) Nikšić (257) 2009–10 493 75,400 153 2,000 Ulcinj (1,113) Primorje 1945 (271) 2010–11 497 70,600 142 1,700 Teodo (950) Ljubović (222) 2011–12 429 55,800 130 1,500 Teodo (692) Podgorica (131) 2012–13 514 78,150 152 2,500 Ulcinj (840) Primorje 1945 (214) 2013–14 426 64,800 152 1,500 Ibar (686) Centar (214) 2014–15 485 74,100 153 3,000 Ibar (1,086) Zeta (207) 2015–16 579 71,200 123 3,000 Ibar (1,050) S. Centar (127) 2016–17 497 62,200 125 3,000 Mornar (1,675) S. Centar (119) 2017–18 645 70,950 110 3,500 Mornar (1,487) S. Centar (106) 2018–19 569 75,100 132 3,000 Mornar (1,222) Zeta (108) 2019–20Canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic 2019–20Without attendance due to the coronavirus pandemic M = Number of matches (only matches with spectators counted); H = Highest attendance on one match; CH = Club with highest average attendance; CL = Club with lowest average attendance
Current season
Competition format Eleven of the fourteen teams that play the league join the regular season. After that phase, two best teams from the regular season are qualifying for the playoffs, where they play against the two 2020–21 ABA League teams (Budućnost Voli and Mornar).Except that, two best teams from regular season are qualifying for the next season of ABA 2 League. The last qualified team is relegated to Prva B Liga.
Teams Club City Arena Capacity Budućnost VOLI Podgorica Morača 6,000 Danilovgrad Danilovgrad Gradska dvorana 1,200 Ibar Rožaje Bandžovo Brdo 2,500 Jedintsvo Bijelo Polje SC Nikoljac 3,000 Lovćen Cetinje SRC Lovćen 1,500 Mornar Bar Topolica 3,500 Pljevlja Pljevlja SC Ada 3,000 Podgorica Podgorica Bemax Arena 2,000 Primorje Herceg Novi SC Igalo 2,000 Studenski centar Podgorica University Sports Center 1,500 Sutjeska Nikšić Nikšić Sports Center 3,000 All Star Spuž Academy Danilovgrad 600 Teodo Tivat Župa SC 1,500 Zeta Golubovci House of basketball 500
Montenegrin basketball clubs in ABA League