The Liga Uruguaya de Básquetbol (abbreviated as LUB; English: Uruguayan Basketball League) is the highest professional club basketball league in Uruguay. It is organized by the Uruguayan Basketball Federation (FUBB). The Uruguayan Basketball League competition began in 2003. Before that time, the Uruguayan basketball championships were only local metropolitan, and no competitions brought together all the clubs in the country. Until the Liga Uruguaya de Básquetbol was created, the capital clubs participated in the Campeonato Uruguayo Federal de Básquetbol (Uruguayan Federal Basketball Championship), while the clubs of the rest of the country competed in regional tournaments. The Uruguayan Federal Basketball Championship was founded in 1915, making it among the oldest on the continent.
The first LUB competition had a dramatic end, with a win in the last second, that brought the Uruguayan League title to Defensor Sporting, whom also repeated in the 2009–10 season. So far, Defensor Sporting is the only one to appear in all of the league's seasons, after the relegation of Trouville in the 2024–25 season.
Format
The LUB is currently played in three stages: Torneo (Qualifying Tournament), Fase Campeonato (Championship Phase) or Reclasificatorio (Requalifier), play-in and play-off.
In the Qualifying Tournament, the clubs play each other twice, home and away, and the first six of the table play in the Championship Phase, where all is guaranteed to participate in the playoffs. The last six play the Requalifier. The Championship Phase is contested by six teams. The clubs play each other twice, home and away. It only serves to organize the positions for playoffs. The Requalifier was contested by six teams also. The clubs play each other twice. The last two are relegated to the Liga de Ascenso and the top two advance to the playoffs. Finally, teams competed in the playoffs, with series being best of five. The first stage was the quarterfinals. The qualifiers are played as: A) 1st of the Liguilla vs. 2nd of the Reclasificatorio, B) 2nd of the Liguilla vs. 1st of the Requalifier, C) 3rd of the Liguilla vs. 6th of the Liguilla, and D) 4th of the Liguilla vs. 5th of the Liguilla. The semifinal pairings were: A) Winner vs. D) Winner and B) Winner vs. C) Winner. The winners of these matches played in the finals in best-of-seven serie, with the winner being crowned as the league champions of the LUB. The finalists will play the BCL Americas and the losers of the semifinals, the Liga Sudamericana de Baloncesto.
Participating teams Defensor Sporting is the team with the most league appearances, having so far competed in every season of the LUB.
2026–27 season teams Notes: All statistics are only for the Uruguayan Basketball League (Liga Uruguaya de Básquetbol), which is organized by the Uruguayan Basketball Federation (Federación Uruguaya de Basketball). Uruguayan Federal tournaments are not included. The "arena" column reflects the arena where the team plays most of its home games, but does not indicate that the team in question is the owner.
ClubCityArenaCapacityFoundationSeasonsChampionshipsAguada MontevideoEstadio Propio Aguatero3,7381922234AtenasEstadio Antonio María Borderes1,5651918110BiguáGimnasio Biguá de Villa BiarritzSince these venues do not have an official name, they are mentioned as Gimnasio (Stadium) "club name".1,2001931234Defensor SportingGimnasio Óscar MagurnoDefensor's venue was not authorized to host home games, so they played in the Welcome's court.8001910242GoesEstadio Plaza de las Misiones1,8001934150Hebraica MacabiEstadio Romeo SchinkaHebraica's venue was not authorized to host home games, so they played in the Larre Borges' court.9001939194LarrañagaGimnasio Doña Natividad Rivera500193910MalvínGimnasio Juan Francisco Canil9001938235NacionalPolideportivo del Gran Parque Central8001899121PeñarolEstadio Cr. Gastón Güelfi4,700189171Unión AtléticaGimnasio Unión Atlética7501924130Gimnasio Urunday Universitario7001931100
Champions by season The Uruguayan Basketball League competition began in 2003. Before that time, the Uruguayan Federal Championships were only local, and no competition brought together all the clubs in the country.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019–20 season took place between October 2019 and February 2021. The season paused in March 2020, resumed in November 2020 briefly with the start of the playoffs, and then paused again until February 2021. The 2019–20 season finished on February 26, 2021, when Aguada beat Trouville in Game 4 of the finals to win 3–1. The 2021 season began in March 2021 and ran through June 2021.
SeasonChampionResultRunner-upChampion Coach2003Defensor Sporting3–2Paysandú Gerardo Jauri2004–05Salto Uruguay3–1Paysandú Javier Espíndola2005–06Trouville3–0Aguada Alejandro González2006–07Malvín3–1Biguá Pablo López2007–08Biguá3–0Hebraica Macabi Marcelo Signorelli2008–09Biguá3–0 Defensor Sporting Che García2009–10 Defensor Sporting3–0Malvín Gerardo Jauri2010–11Malvín3–1Biguá Pablo López2011–12Hebraica Macabi3–2Malvín Marcelo Signorelli2012–13Aguada4–3Defensor Sporting Javier Espíndola2013–14Malvín4–1Defensor Sporting Pablo López2014–15Malvín4–1Trouville Pablo López2015–16Hebraica Macabi4–2Defensor Sporting Leonardo Zylbersztein2016–17Hebraica Macabi4–3Aguada Leonardo Zylbersztein2017–18Malvín4–3Aguada Pablo López2018–19Aguada4–3Malvín Miguel Volcan2019–20Aguada3–1Trouville Adrián Capelli2021Biguá3–2Nacional Hernán LaginestraBiguáPeñarol Diego CalHebraica MacabiNacional Leonardo ZylberszteinAguadaPeñarol Germán CortizasNacionalAguada Álvaro PoncePeñarolAguada Leandro García Morales
Total LUB titles by club ClubChampionshipsRunners-upYear(s) wonMalvín532007, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018Aguada432013, 2019, 2020, 2024Biguá422008, 2009, 2021, 2022412012, 2016, 2017, 2023242003, 2010Peñarol122026Nacional122025Trouville122006Salto Uruguay102005Paysandú02
Awards
Top Scorer Season Player Club Points 2014–15Season 14–15 on FUBB Anthony Young Montevideo 22.5 2015–16Season 15–16 on FUBB Marcus Elliott Olimpia 24.1 2016–17Season 16–17 on FUBB Anthony Young (2) Larre Borges 25.7 2017–18Season 17–18 on FUBB Walter Baxley Biguá 25.9 2018–19Season 18–19 on FUBB Joe Efese Verdirrojo 21.2 2019–20Season 19–20 on FUBB Isaac Sosa Defensor Sporting 23.3 2021Season 20–21 on FUBB Donald Sims Biguá 26.7 2021–22Season 21–22 on FUBB Davaunta Thomas Capitol 22.8 2022–23Season 22–23 on FUBB Donald Sims (2) Biguá 24.1 2023–24Season 23–24 on FUBB Donald Sims (3) Aguada 23.8 2024–25Season 24–25 on FUBB Andre Spight Biguá 23.7 2025–26Season 25–26 on FUBB Rashad Hassan Montevideo 19.6
See also Uruguayan Federal Basketball Championship (1915–2003) Liga Femenina de Básquetbol Uruguayan Basketball Champions Uruguayan Basketball Federation (FUBB) FUBB All-Star Game
References
External links
FUBB Liga Uruguaya on Basket Uruguay Uruguayan Basketball League at Latinbasket.com