The North European Basketball League, or Northern European Basketball League (NEBL), was a short-lived regional professional basketball league. It was founded in 1998, by Šarūnas Marčiulionis and Dmitry Buriak. The league was the first commercial project of a regional league in Europe, and initially intended for participation of the best basketball teams from five countries - Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, and Finland.
History In 1999, the first North European Basketball League competition took place, involving eight teams, from the aforementioned countries. Eventually, the tournament started to lose its regional characteristics, as it began involving more clubs from Central (Germany, Poland, Czech Republic), Western (Belgium, the Netherlands), and Eastern (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Romania) Europe; then, from Southern Europe (Macedonia, FR Yugoslavia), and even from Israel and Turkey. There were 31 teams, from 19 countries (from Israel to the United Kingdom), participating in the 2001–02 season's tournament. The Final Four of the NEBL, was always played in Vilnius, Lithuania.
By 2002, top clubs like CSKA Moscow, Žalgiris, and Maccabi, had lost their interest in the competition, in favor of the newly organized, and much more commercially attractive, EuroLeague. In the season 2002–03 season, a body (group stage) of the tournament was not held – the four best teams of the Northern Conference FIBA Champions Cup played for the last NEBL title in a Final Four.
The NEBL would later be transformed (since 2004) into Baltic Basketball League (BBL), with basketball teams from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia participating in it.
Results Season Winner Final score Finalist Total clubs Total countries1999 (Promo) Žalgiris Kaunas 83–81 ASK/Brocēni/LMT Riga V8 52000 CSKA Moscow 95–77 Lietuvos rytas Vilnius 14 92000–01 Ural Great Perm 88–81 Žalgiris Kaunas 16 122001–02 Lietuvos rytas Vilnius 79–74 Ural Great Perm 31 192002–03 UNICS Kazan 93–90 Lietuvos rytas Vilnius 4 3
See also European North Basketball League European Women's Basketball League Baltic Basketball League
External links NEBL slogan: Break the ice! NEBL 1999 Cup