Lithuanian men's basketball league
Basketball league
Headquarters
in
Vilnius
Lietuvos krep?inio lyga
(
LKL
; English:
Lithuanian Basketball League
), also known as
Betsafe LKL
for sponsorship reasons, is the premier professional men's club
basketball
league in
Lithuania
. It is composed of 12 teams, and it is a member of the
Lithuanian Basketball Federation
. The best LKL clubs are also annual participants of the top European-wide basketball competitions, including
the top-tier level
EuroLeague
.
On April 22, 1993, the Lietuvos krep?inio asociacija (
English
: Lithuanian Basketball Association) (LKA) was founded. It was the first professional sports organisation in Lithuania. Lietuvos krep?inio lyga was built on the foundation of the LKA. Former basketball player
?ar?nas Mar?iulionis
is named as the founder of the league. He was the first president of the LKL and served from 1993 to 2002. Remigijus Mila?ius is the current president of the league since 2013. The league's headquarters is located in
Vilnius
.
A total of 28 teams have competed in the LKL since its inception. Only two teams have been crowned champions, with
?algiris Kaunas
winning the title a record 24 times and
Rytas Vilnius
six times.
Competition format
[
edit
]
The competition format follows a quadruple round-robin format, which means that during the course of a regular season, which lasts from late September to May, each club plays every other club four times, twice at home and twice away, for a total of 44 games. Teams receive one point for a win, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, with the eight highest-ranked clubs at the end of the season plays the playoffs and the winner of the playoffs is crowned a champion.
Promotion and relegation
[
edit
]
A system of promotion and relegation exists between the LKL and the NKL. The lowest placed team in LKL is relegated to the NKL, and the top team from the NKL promoted to LKL. However, the last team that has been promoted from the NKL to the LKL was
BC Ma?eikiai
in the
2014?15 LKL season
. No any team has been promoted to the LKL since 2015 because they were unable to meet the league requirements. In
2021-22 LKL season
, for the first time since
2014-15 LKL season
, 11 teams played in the league, NKL winner
Cbet Jonava
joined the existing 10 teams. Below is a complete record of how many teams played in each season throughout the league's history:
- 1993?1994: 10 clubs
- 1994?1995: 11 clubs
- 1995?1999: 10 clubs
- 1999?2002: 9 clubs
- 2002?2004: 10 clubs
- 2004?2005: 9 clubs
- 2005?2006: 8 clubs
- 2006?2007: 9 clubs
|
- 2007?2008: 10 clubs
- 2008?2009: 11 clubs
- 2009?2011: 13 clubs
- 2011?2013: 12 clubs
- 2013?2015: 11 clubs
- 2015?2021: 10 clubs
- 2021?2022: 11 clubs
- 2022?present: 12 clubs
|
Qualifying for European competitions
[
edit
]
?algiris
directly enters the
EuroLeague
as a licensed club. The highest-placed team, apart from licensed club Zalgiris, gets an invite to play in the
EuroCup
. The second and third highest-placed teams, apart from licensed club, get an invite to play in the
Basketball Champions League
.
In the 2022?23 season:
History
[
edit
]
Foundation and ?algiris dominance
[
edit
]
The Lithuanian Basketball Association was founded on 22 April 1993, when eight of the strongest Lithuanian basketball clubs' officials met with representatives of the
?ar?nas Mar?iulionis
basketball fund in
Vilnius
. The original eight teams were:
?algiris Kaunas
,
Atletas Kaunas
,
Drob? Kaunas
,
Statyba Vilnius
,
Olimpas Plung?
,
BC ?ilut?
,
Lietkabelis Panev??ys
and
Nept?nas Klaip?da
. This association would soon be renamed to Lietuvos krep?inio lyga (LKL) due to legal issues, also announcing there that would start in the upcoming fall.
[1]
By the end of spring, before the season started, the LKA and their new league accepted two more teams ?
Lavera Kaunas
and
NECA Kaunas
.
[2]
Following the 1993?94 season, the finalists of last season's
LKAL
,
Sakalai Vilnius
&
BC ?iauliai
joined the league, while Drob? Kaunas decided to withdraw due to financial difficulties. The 1994?95 season saw the league's foreign players emerge as star power, before they were more known to be role players. In the 1995?96 season the league continued to accept the champions of the LKAL to the league,
Savy Alytus
joined the league. Sharpshooter
Joe Vickery
became the first foreigner to lead the LKL in scoring for Olimpas. League officials would start pressuring teams to play in better arenas by setting up certain criteria that were necessary to get accepted into the league. That's why no more teams were accepted until 1998 when Olimpas Plung? went bankrupt and was replaced by
BC Kraitien?
based in
Marijampol?
. Some of the strongest teams like ?ilut? and Atletas faded away to the bottom of the league and left the league.
During this time period, the league had been dominated by ?algiris. They won the league's championship trophy for six consecutive years, from 1994 through 1999. Their main rival during those years was Atletas Kaunas led by
Saulius ?tombergas
and a young
?ydr?nas Ilgauskas
acquired from ?algiris' youth team. Ilgauskas was selected 20th overall in the
1996 NBA draft
, making him the first NBA player coming straight from the LKL. In 1999 ?algiris, led by
Tyus Edney
, became the first Lithuanian team to win the top European basketball competition, the
EuroLeague
title.
Golden era of Lithuanian basketball
[
edit
]
In the 1999?2000 season,
Lietuvos rytas
shocked defending EuroLeague champions ?algiris by ending their dominant run. That sparked most likely the biggest rivalry in Lithuanian sports, the competitiveness has brought over to politics and society between the two biggest cities in Lithuania.
[3]
Modern era
[
edit
]
2010?11 saw ?algiris reclaim the title, beating Lietuvos rytas 4?1. In the finals of 2012 ?algiris was the winner again, by sweeping Lietuvos Rytas 3?0. During the 2013?14 season, ?algiris defeated
Nept?nas
in the final.
[
citation needed
]
The 2014?2015 season saw the introduction of the 'four wheel system', where all the teams have to play 40 games with no exceptions for teams competing in international competition like in the past. This year ?algiris was able to finished 1st, but not before a dramatic win against Lietuvos rytas in the last game of the season 82?81.
"...there's no better advertisement for Lithuanian basketball than this match. The season is long, forty games, but everything is settled not only in the last game of the season, but in the last seconds of that game."
?algiris continued to dominate in the playoffs sweeping rivals Lietuvos rytas once again in the final. Despite a familiar ending, the season was marked by the growing competitiveness of the league, Nept?nas joined ?algiris and Lietuvos rytas as a powerhouse and this edition saw a couple of upsets and close games from teams such as
Pieno ?vaig?d?s
and
Juventus Utena
. Although a strong competitor
Prienai
had an underwhelming season. However, the final saw a two usual suspects once again - ?algiris and Lietuvos Rytas. The Greens once again took the trophy back home by beating rivals 4?0. Team from Kaunas was led by all around sharpshooters in
James Anderson
and
Art?ras Milaknis
who averaged 15.3 and 14.3 points a piece. The latter was named
the MVP of the finals
.
Six
2015?16 LKL season
teams participated in the European tournaments:
?algiris
(
EuroLeague
),
Lietuvos rytas
and
Nept?nas
(
EuroCup
),
Juventus
,
Pieno ?vaig?d?s
,
?iauliai
(
FIBA Europe Cup
).
[4]
Lietkabelis
,
Vytautas
and
Nev??is
competed in the
Baltic Basketball League
.
[5]
Dz?kija
was the only LKL club not participating in any European or regional tournaments. The off-season moves by teams such as the rebranded Prienai (Vytautas Prienai?Bir?tonas), Lietkabelis and the continued work from last season's
playoff seeds
gave fans hope for one of the most competitive seasons in league history. During the season, ?algiris won 1st place in the regular season, over Lietuvos rytas. In the playoffs, Nept?nas shocked everyone, by beating Rytas in the semifinals, and reaching the finals for the second time in club history. In the finals, ?algiris beat Nept?nas 4?1 to win again.
The
2016?17 LKL season
off-season saw the rise of Lietkabelis, as
tensions between FIBA and the EuroLeague
resulted into them receiving a wild card as replacement in the EuroCup and greatly improving their roster which included signing the Lavrinovi? twins (
Darju?
and
K?y?tof
). A record of 8 Lithuanian teams competed in a European tournament that season, which added to the ever-improving competitiveness of the league. Consequently, the LKL achieved the average attendance record,
[6]
with more than 2,000 spectators per game, during the regular season. Only Lietkabelis was able to fight defending champion ?algiris, as ?algiris easily defeated other top contenders Lietuvos rytas and Nept?nas. In the LKL semifinals, Lietkabelis beat Lietuvos rytas 3?1, to advance to the finals for the first time - they lost to ?algiris 4?1. Rytas won the third place over Nept?nas.
"Does not matter the strength of the opponent, no matter, if ?algiris Kaunas or Rytas Vilnius wins, the result does not mater, it is important, that the Lord is with us."
In the
2018-19 LKL season
,
Dainius Adomaitis
, the coach of the
Lithuania men's national basketball team
, joined the renamed
BC Rytas
as the new head coach. During the
2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification
, happening during the season, many LKL players debuted in the national team to play the games. BC Vytautas was renamed as
BC SkyCop Prienai
, signing veteran players like the Lavrinovi? twins,
Mindaugas Lukauskis
and others. The team played improved basketball and reached the playoffs. Rytas won the
King Mindaugas Cup
, while
BC Nept?nas
finished the regular season in second place, earning home-court advantage for the semifinals for the first time in club history. ?algiris once again won 1st place in the regular season. In the playoffs, while ?algiris and Lietkabelis beat their opponents in sweeps, Rytas struggled against
BC Juventus
, 2?1, while Nept?nas defeated SkyCop 2?1. In the semifinals, ?algiris easily swept Lietkabelis 2?0, while Rytas shocked Nept?nas with an even easier 2?0 sweep, even without home-court advantage. Setting up rematches from the previous year, the results remained the same - Nept?nas once again defeated Lietkabelis 3?0 in the 3rd place series, while ?algiris easily defeated Rytas 3?0 in the finals.
During the
2019?20 season
, the LKL board ended the season prematurely due to the
coronavirus outbreak
and crowned ?algiris champions.
[8]
In the
2020-21 LKL season
the LKL has reached a historic agreement - LKL will be broadcast in foreign countries for the first time since its establishment. During the
2020-21 LKL season
, it was decided that in the next
2021-22 LKL season
, 11 teams will participate in the tournament again after 6 years.
Cbet Jonava
joined the other 10 existing LKL teams by winning the 2020-21 NKL season.
[9]
[10]
For the
2022?23 season
, the number of teams was further increased to 12, with the addition of the 2021-22 NKL champions
Garg?dai-SC
.
[11]
During
2022?23 LKL season
it was announced that the new team 2022?23
NKL
season runner-up
Ma?eikiai M Basket
will join other existing teams in
LKL
.
Ma?eikiai M Basket
will take place of
Labas Gas
because they finished in last place in
2022?23 LKL season
and were relegated to
NKL
.
[12]
Teams
[
edit
]
| This article's
factual accuracy
may be compromised due to out-of-date information
.
Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.
(
December 2023
)
|
| L
ietuvos
K
rep?inio
L
yga teams
|
| Team
|
Location
|
Arena
|
Capacity
|
Coordinates
|
Founded
|
Joined LKL
|
Head coach
|
| 7bet-Lietkabelis
|
Panev??ys
|
Kalnapilio Arena
|
5,950
|
55°44′00″N
24°20′22″E
/
55.7333°N 24.3394°E
/
55.7333; 24.3394
(
BC Lietkabelis
)
|
1964
|
2007
|
 Nenad ?anak
|
| Cbet Jonava
|
Jonava
|
Jonava Arena
|
2,200
|
55°04′36″N
24°16′25″E
/
55.0766°N 24.2735°E
/
55.0766; 24.2735
(
BC CBet Jonava
)
|
1969
|
2021
|
 Virginijus ?e?kus
|
| Garg?dai
|
Garg?dai
|
?vyturys Arena
|
6,200
|
55°41′15″N
21°09′07″E
/
55.6874°N 21.152°E
/
55.6874; 21.152
(
BC Garg?dai-SC
)
|
2014
|
2022
|
Laimonas Eglinskas
|
| Ma?eikiai M Basket
|
Ma?eikiai
|
Tel?iai Arena
|
800
|
55°59′03″N
22°14′39″E
/
55.9843°N 22.2441°E
/
55.9843; 22.2441
(
BC Ma?eikiai
)
|
2005
|
2023
|
 Nikola Vasilev
|
| Nept?nas
|
Klaip?da
|
?vyturys Arena
|
6,200
|
55°41′15″N
21°09′07″E
/
55.6874°N 21.152°E
/
55.6874; 21.152
(
BC Nept?nas
)
|
1964
|
1993
|
Mindaugas Brazys
|
| Nev??is-OPTIBET
|
K?dainiai
|
K?dainiai Arena
|
2,200
|
55°17′59″N
23°59′24″E
/
55.2996°N 23.99°E
/
55.2996; 23.99
(
BC Nev??is
)
|
1992
|
2002
|
Gediminas Petrauskas
|
| Pieno ?vaig?d?s
|
Pasvalys
|
Pieno ?vaig?d?s Arena
|
1,500
|
56°03′41″N
24°24′50″E
/
56.0615°N 24.4138°E
/
56.0615; 24.4138
(
BC Dz?kija
)
|
2000
|
2011
|
Aurimas Jasilionis
|
| Rytas
|
Vilnius
|
Jeep Arena
|
2,500
|
54°42′58″N
25°16′44″E
/
54.716°N 25.279°E
/
54.716; 25.279
(
BC Lietuvos rytas
)
|
1963
|
1993
|
Giedrius ?ib?nas
|
| ?iauliai-7bet
|
?iauliai
|
?iauliai Arena
|
5,700
|
55°55′14″N
23°16′56″E
/
55.9206°N 23.2823°E
/
55.9206; 23.2823
(
BC ?iauliai
)
|
1994
|
?ydr?nas Urbonas
|
| Uniclub Casino - Juventus
|
Utena
|
Utena Arena
|
2,000
|
55°30′15″N
25°35′29″E
/
55.5041°N 25.5914°E
/
55.5041; 25.5914
(
BC Juventus
)
|
1999
|
2009
|
Oliver Kosti?
|
| Wolves
|
Vilnius
|
Avia Solutions Group Arena
|
10,000
|
54°42′59″N
25°16′50″E
/
54.7165°N 25.2806°E
/
54.7165; 25.2806
(
BC Wolves
)
|
2022
|
K?stutis Kemz?ra
|
| ?algiris
|
Kaunas
|
?algiris Arena
|
15,552
|
54°53′25″N
23°54′54″E
/
54.8903°N 23.915°E
/
54.8903; 23.915
(
BC ?algiris
)
|
1944
|
1993
|
 Andrea Trinchieri
|
2023?24 LKL club locations
Champions by season
[
edit
]
Classic LKL logo
- In 1994?95, 1995?96 and 1996?97 seasons no bronze medal game was played. Positions are determined by regular season standings of the semifinalists.
- ^
?algiris declared champion through regular season standings after the premature ending of the league due to the
coronavirus pandemic
.
Performance by club
[
edit
]
LKL
trophy in
Vilnius
| Team
|
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
Winning years
|
| ?algiris
|
24
|
5
|
1
|
0
|
1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2010-11,
2011-12
,
2012-13
,
2013-14
,
2014-15
,
2015-16
,
2016-17
,
2017-18
,
2018-19
,
2019-20
,
2020-21
,
2022-23
|
| Lietuvos rytas / Rytas
|
6
|
16
|
4
|
0
|
1999-00, 2001-02, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10,
2021?22
|
| Atletas
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
|
| Nept?nas
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
5
|
|
| Lietkabelis
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
2
|
|
| Olimpas
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
|
| ?iauliai
|
0
|
0
|
9
|
7
|
|
| R?dupis/Prienai
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
|
| Alita
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
|
| Sakalai
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
5
|
|
| Juventus
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
4
|
|
| Lavera
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
| Statyba
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
|
| ?ilut?
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
|
| Nev??is
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
| Alytus
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
| Jonava
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
All?time national champions
[
edit
]
Total number of national champions won by Lithuanian clubs. Table includes titles won during the
Lithuanian Championships
(1924?1941) and (1990?present) and the
USSR Premier Basketball League
(1945?1991).
| Club
|
Trophies
|
Years won
|
| ?algiris Kaunas
|
32
|
1947, 1951, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011,
2012
,
2013
,
2014
,
2015
,
2016
,
2017
,
2018
,
2019
,
2020
,
2021
,
2023
|
| LFLS Kaunas
|
6
|
1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1935, 1936
|
| Rytas Vilnius
|
6
|
2000, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010,
2022
|
| CJSO Kaunas
|
3
|
1937, 1938, 1940
|
| LGSF Kaunas
|
2
|
1933, 1934
|
| Kovas Kaunas
|
1
|
1925
|
| Perk?nas Kaunas
|
1
|
1941
|
Awards
[
edit
]
Lithuanian All-Star Game
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
|---|
|
| National teams
| |
|---|
| League competitions
| |
|---|
| Cup competitions
| |
|---|