The Women's British Basketball League (WBBL) was the top-level women's basketball league in Great Britain, founded on 5 June 2014 as the women's counterpart to the British Basketball League (BBL). The league's headquarters sat in Leicester alongside the offices of the men's BBL. It was replaced by Super League Basketball like the men’s competition.
Like the BBL, the organisation used a franchise-based system so there is no promotion and relegation between the WBBL and the English Women's Basketball League, which forms the lower divisions. Along with the WBBL Championship and the post-season Play-offs, it also ran two knockout competitions featuring all WBBL member teams - the WBBL Cup and WBBL Trophy.
History Officially approved by the British Basketball League and England Basketball, the newly created Women's British Basketball League was announced to the public on 5 June 2014, and the 2014–15 season was the league's first full season of competition.
The initial line-up included pre-existing teams from England and Wales, competing in a franchise-based organisation similar to the men's British Basketball League model, with no promotion or relegation in operation with the lower leagues. All eight teams from the pre-existing English Basketball League Division One (Women) competition were selected as member clubs, as well as the two finalists from the 2014 Division Two (Women) Play-offs, Brixton Lady TopCats and Leeds Beckett University. Since the league's inauguration, both Leeds and Brixton have resigned from the league, but three new clubs have joined in that time, including the league's first member club from Scotland.
Teams TeamLocationArenaFoundedJoinedHead Coach Caledonia Gladiators East Kilbride Playsport Arena 2016 2016 Miguel Ángel Ortega Marco Cardiff Met Archers Cardiff Archers Arena 2000 2014 Stef Collins Durham Palatinates Durham Sports and Wellbeing Park 2017 2017 Essex Rebels Colchester Essex Sports Arena 2018 2018 Ashley Cookson Leicester Riders Loughborough Loughborough University 2011 2014 Ben Stanley London Lions London (Stratford) Copper Box Arena 2008 2014 Styliani Kaltsidou Manchester Giants Manchester National Basketball Centre 2004 2014 Marg Jones Newcastle Eagles Newcastle upon Tyne Vertu Motors Arena 2005 2014 Noelia Cacheiro Nottingham Wildcats Nottingham Nottingham Wildcats Arena 1976 2014 Karen Burton Oaklands Wolves St Albans Oaklands College 2009 2016 Sheffield Hatters Sheffield All Saints Sports Centre 1961 2021 Vanessa Ellis
Former teams TeamLocationArenaJoinedLeft Leeds Beckett University Leeds Carnegie Sports Arena 2014 2015 Brixton Lady TopCats London (Brixton) Brixton Recreation Centre 2014 2016 Gloucester City Queens Gloucester Oxstalls Arena 2021 2022 Sevenoaks Suns Sevenoaks (Guildford) Surrey Sports Park 2014 2023
Competitions
WBBL Championship The WBBL Championship is the flagship competition of the Women's British Basketball League and features all member teams playing a 22-game regular season (in a round robin format), from October through to April. Matches are played according to FIBA rules and games consist of four-quarters of 10 minutes each. Two points are awarded for a win, with overtime used if the score is tied at the final buzzer – unlimited numbers of 5-minute overtime periods are played until one team is ahead when a period ends. At the end of the regular season, the team with the most points is crowned as WBBL Champions. If points are equal between two or more teams then head-to-head results between said teams are used to determine the winners. In the case of a tie between multiple teams where this does not break the tie, the winners are then determined by the points difference in the games between said teams. Following the completion of the Championship regular season, the top eight ranked teams advance into the post-season Play-offs which usually take place during April.
SeasonChampionsRunners UpThird Place 2014–15 Sheffield Hatters (1) Nottingham Wildcats Team Northumbria 2015–16 Nottingham Wildcats (1) Team Northumbria Sheffield Hatters 2016–17 Nottingham Wildcats (2) Leicester Riders Sevenoaks Suns 2017–18 Sevenoaks Suns (1) Leicester Riders Sheffield Hatters 2018–19 Sevenoaks Suns (2) Leicester Riders Sheffield Hatters 2019–20 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic 2020–21 Sevenoaks Suns (3) Leicester Riders London Lions 2021–22 London Lions (1) Sevenoaks Suns Sheffield Hatters 2022–23 London Lions (2) Caledonia Gladiators Leicester Riders
WBBL Playoffs The post-season Playoffs usually takes place in April, featuring the top eight ranked teams from the WBBL Championship regular season compete in a knockout tournament. Teams are seeded depending on their final positioning in the Championship standings, so first-place faces eighth-place, second versus seventh-place, third against sixth-place and finally fourth plays the fifth-placed team. Both the Quarter-finals and the succeeding Semi-finals are played over a two-game series (home & away) with the higher seed having choice of home advantage in the either the 1st or 2nd leg – an aggregated score over the two games will determine which team will advance to the next stage. As with the Quarter-finals, teams in the Semi-finals are also seeded, with the highest-ranking team drawn against the lowest-ranking team in one Semi-final and the two remaining teams drawn together in the other Semi-final. The culmination of the post-season is the grand Final, a one-off game played at the end of April, where the winners will be crowned as Play-off Champions.
SeasonChampionsResultRunners UpVenue 2014–15 Sheffield Hatters (1) 84 - 69 Nottingham Wildcats Worcester Arena, Worcester 2015–16 Team Northumbria (1) 75 - 68 Nottingham Wildcats The O2 Arena, London 2016–17 Sevenoaks Suns (1) 70 - 61 Nottingham Wildcats The O2 Arena, London 2017–18 Sevenoaks Suns (2) 69 - 44 Leicester Riders The O2 Arena, London 2018–19 Sevenoaks Suns (3) 60 - 55 Leicester Riders The O2 Arena, London 2019–20 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic 2020–21 London Lions (1) 93 - 71 Newcastle Eagles Morningside Arena, Leicester 2021–22 London Lions (2) 70 - 45 Sevenoaks Suns The O2 Arena, London 2022–23 London Lions (3) 57 - 41 Leicester Riders The O2 Arena, London
Betty Codona Trophy The WBBL Trophy, now officially the Betty Codona Trophy, is an annual pool stage and knockout tournament featuring all WBBL member clubs.
For the first two seasons, pairings were drawn completely at random – there were no seeds, and a draw took place after the majority of fixtures have been played in each round. A preliminary round took place between the lowest-finishing teams in the previous league season, so that the tournament proper started with eight teams in the first round.
From the 2016-17 season, the format was revamped, splitting the teams into a number of geographical groups. The top teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals, which are played as straight knockout ties.
SeasonChampionsResultRunners UpVenue 2014–15 Sheffield Hatters (1) 76 - 62 Nottingham Wildcats Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham 2015–16 Sheffield Hatters (2) 79 - 45 Barking Abbey Crusaders Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham 2016–17 Sevenoaks Suns (1) 82 - 67 Leicester Riders Emirates Arena, Glasgow 2017–18 Leicester Riders (1) 68 - 53 Sevenoaks Suns Cheshire Oaks Arena, Ellesmere Port 2018–19 Leicester Riders (2) 76 - 74 Durham Palatinates Emirates Arena, Glasgow 2019–20 Leicester Riders (3) 70 - 66 Durham Palatinates Emirates Arena, Glasgow 2020–21 London Lions (1) 96 - 64 Nottingham Wildcats Worcester Arena, Worcester 2021–22 London Lions (2) 72 - 36 Sevenoaks Suns Emirates Arena, Glasgow 2022–23 London Lions (3) 81 - 70 Leicester Riders Emirates Arena, Glasgow2023–24London Lions (4)83 - 67Essex RebelsUtilita Arena, Birmingham
WBBL Cup
The WBBL Cup is an annual knockout competition featuring all WBBL member clubs. It is a straight knockout competition.
SeasonChampionsResultRunners UpVenue 2016–17 Manchester Mystics (1) 71 - 60 Nottingham Wildcats Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham 2017–18 Nottingham Wildcats (1) 70 - 66 Caledonia Pride Arena Birmingham, Birmingham 2018–19 Sheffield Hatters (1) 62 - 60 Sevenoaks Suns Arena Birmingham, Birmingham 2019–20 Sevenoaks Suns (1) 74 - 64 Durham Palatinates Arena Birmingham, Birmingham 2020–21 Leicester Riders (1) 78 - 67 Sevenoaks Suns National Basketball Centre, Manchester 2021–22 London Lions (1) 87 - 47 Newcastle Eagles Arena Birmingham, Birmingham 2022–23 London Lions (2) 95 - 42 Leicester Riders Arena Birmingham, Birmingham 2023–24
Betty Codona Classic
The Betty Codona Classic was an annual three-day tournament named in honour of Betty Codona OBE, a stalwart of women's basketball in Britain for over 50 years and founder of the country's first women's team, Sheffield Hatters. The competition was originally set up as an independent event for the top clubs in Women's basketball and predates the creation of the WBBL by a year, but was adopted as an official WBBL competition after the league was established.
The original format featured the top eight-placed WBBL teams after the first 8 games of regular season play. For the 2016/2017 edition, the competition was moved to become the opening event for the WBBL season, resulting in a two-tiered format where the Classic Cup was contested by the top four from the previous season's league, with fifth to eighth placed teams from last year's league competing for the Classic Plate.
SeasonChampionsResultRunners UpVenue 2013–14 Nottingham Wildcats (1) 69 - 43 Loughborough Riders Nottingham Wildcats Arena 2014–15 Sheffield Hatters (1) 79 - 73 Nottingham Wildcats All Saints Sports Centre, Sheffield 2015–16 Nottingham Wildcats (2) 89 - 81 Sheffield Hatters All Saints Sports Centre, Sheffield 2016–17 Nottingham Wildcats (3) 86 - 59 Sheffield Hatters Nottingham Wildcats Arena
Individual awards The WBBL concludes each season with a number of individual awards based on overall performance from the year. The three end-of-season awards are; MVP Award (Most Valuable Player - which proposes the player with the best performance over the year); the Young Player of the Year (the best performance of a younger player usually at the age before or during university); and Coach of the Year (the coach with the best performance over the season). The WBBL also awards MVP Awards for the Playoffs, Trophy and Cup finals. In addition, 'Team of the Year' and 'Defensive Team of the Year' places are awarded to demonstrate the best five players in the league as well as the best five defensively players of the year in the league.
SeasonMost Valuable PlayerYoung Player of the YearCoach of the Season2014–15Steph Gandy (Sheffield Hatters)Savannah Wilkinson (Barking Abbey Crusaders)Vanessa Ellis (Sheffield Hatters)2015–16Amber Stokes (Nottingham Wildcats)Georgia Gayle (Sheffield Hatters)Dave Greenaway (Nottingham Wildcats)2016–17Ashley Harris (Nottingham Wildcats)Gabby Nikitinaite (Sevenoaks Suns)Len Busch (Sevenoaks Suns)2017–18Cat Carr (Sevenoaks Suns)Holly Winterburn (Leicester Riders)Len Busch (2) (Sevenoaks Suns)2018–19Sarah Toeiana (Sheffield Hatters)Holly Winterburn (2) (Leicester Riders)Len Busch (3) (Sevenoaks Suns)2019–20 Not awarded due to Covid-19 Not awarded due to Covid-19 Not awarded due to Covid-192020–21Cat Carr (2) (Sevenoaks Suns)Holly Winterburn (3) (Leicester Riders)Len Busch (4) (Sevenoaks Suns)
See also Basketball in England British Basketball League English Women's Basketball League Women's Super League, the Irish equivalent; includes teams from Northern Ireland References
External links Official websites: Official WBBL website The WBBL on Facebook The WBBL on Twitter