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1956
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18
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Asociación de Clubs de Baloncestojpg
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Spain
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150px
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The ('''Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto''') is the premier professional
Basketball league in
Spain . It was founded in
1956 with the name of Liga Nacional, changing its name to the current one in
1983 .
The ACB league, which is played under
FIBA rules, currently consists of 18 teams, including
Real Madrid ,
FC Barcelona ,
Estudiantes ,
Joventut Badalona ,
Tau Baskonia ,
Pamesa Valencia and
Unicaja Málaga .
Famous basketball players who have played in the league include
Juan Antonio Corbalan ,
Arvydas Sabonis ,
Pau Gasol ,
Raúl López ,
Fernando Martín ,
Fernando Romay ,
Andrés Nocioni ,
Fran Vázquez ,
Jordi Villacampa , Andre Turner,
Dražen Petrović ,
Juan Antonio San Epifanio (Epi),
Alberto Herreros ,
Roberto Dueñas ,
Sasha Djordjevic ,
Sarunas Jasikevicius ,
Juan Carlos Navarro ,
Velimir Perasović ,
Rafa Jofresa ,
Dejan Bodiroga ,
Joan Creus ,
Walter Berry and many others.
Each team has to play all the other teams in its division twice, one at home and one away. This means that in ''Liga ACB'' the regular league ends after all teams play 34 matches.
Like many other leagues in continental Europe, the ''Liga ACB'' takes a winter break once each team has played half of its scheduled matches. One feature of the league that may be unusual to North American observers is that the two halves of the season are played in the same order—that is, the order of each team's first-half fixtures is repeated in the second half of the season. This is normal in Spanish sport; it is also used by
La Liga in
Football .
At the end of the league, the eight best teams start a play-off, playing the regular season champion with the 8th and so on. There are three rounds with five matches on each, and the winner of the final round is the champion of the ACB. This is similar to
NBA play-offs, but shorter.
''Next Season:'' '''
ACB League Play-Off 2006/2007 '''
''Next Season:'' '''
ACB League Play-Off 2005/2006 '''
''Main Article:'' '''
ACB League Play-Off 2004/2005 '''
