VTB United League

VTB United League
Единая Лига ВТБ
Current season, competition or edition:; 2014–15 VTB United League
Sport	Basketball
Founded	2008 (Promo-Cup); 2009 (VTB United League)
CEO	Andrey Shirokov
Motto	One league. One language. Language of basketball.
No. of teams	16
Country	Russia (10 teams); Belarus (1 team); Czech Republic (1 team); Finland (1 team); Estonia (1 team); Latvia (1 team); Kazakhstan (1 team)
Most recent; champion(s)	CSKA Moscow ; (5th title)
Most titles	CSKA Moscow ; (5 titles)
Level on pyramid	1st tier (Russia)
Official website	vtb-league.com

VTB United League (Russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional basketball league that was founded in 2008. Starting with the 2013–14 season, it is the 1st tier of Russian professional club basketball, as well as the national domestic league of Russia, with the highest placed Russian team in the league also being the Russian champions. Its goal is to unite the leading basketball clubs of Eastern Europe and Northern Europe together into one league. The league is sponsored by VTB Bank.

League formats

In its inaugural 2009–10 season league format season, the VTB United League featured clubs from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. For the 2010–11 season, teams from Finland, Poland and Belarus were added to the league. The 2011–12 season featured a total of 18 teams, with new teams being added from Czech Republic and Kazakhstan.^[1] In the 2012–13 season, the number of teams increased to 20. The number of teams was decreased to 16 for the 2014–15 season, and the teams from Ukraine and Lithuania dropped out of the competition.

History

The first step in the creation of the league was a competition named the VTB United League Promo-Cup held in Moscow in December, 2008.^[2] The final of the Promo-Cup was played on December 22, 2008, and was won by CSKA Moscow, who defeated Khimki 70–66. Kyiv ended third.^[3]

Unification with the Russian PBL

In May 2012, all the PBL clubs gathered to decide which format would be used for the next season, and some club's directors raised the possibility of uniting with the VTB United League, to produce greater competition between the Russian basketball clubs. They suggested that the new league would be named the Eastern European Professional Basketball League.^[4]^[5]^[6]

In July 2012, the Council of VTB United League gave a definitive decision. It was decided that the PBL league would continue for one more year, with some of the games of the VTB United League that took place between two Russian clubs being counted as PBL games.^[7] The first tier Russian clubs then replaced the PBL with the VTB United League as their new national domestic league, starting with the 2013-14 season.

The VTB United League was officially recognized by FIBA Europe in September 2013.^[8]^[9] The league was then officially recognized by FIBA World in October 2014. The league needed to be recognized by both bodies, because it contains clubs that come from countries that are part of both the European and Asian FIBA zones.

Current teams

These are the teams that are participating in 2014–15 season:

Team appearances

Team	08–09 (8)	09–10 (8)	10–11 (12)	11–12 (18)	12–13 (20)	13–14 (20)	14–15 (16)
Tsmoki-Minsk			GS	GS	GS	GS	•
Nymburk				GS	GS	GS	•
Kalev/Cramo		GS	GS	GS	GS	GS
Bisons Loimaa							•
Espoon Honka			GS
Torpan Pojat				QR
Astana				GS	1/8	1/8	•
ASK Rīga	7th
VEF Rīga		GS	GS	GS	1/4	GS
Lietuvos rytas			GS	3rd	GS	1/2
Neptūnas					GS	GS
Šiauliai				QR
Žalgiris	5th	3rd	1/8	1/8	3rd
Anwil				QR
Prokom	8th		GS	GS
Turów					GS	GS
Avtodor							•
CSKA	1st	1st	2nd	1st	1st	1st	•
Dynamo	4th
Enisey				GS	GS	1/8	•
Khimki	2nd	4th	1st	1/4	4th	1/4	•
Krasny Oktyabr						1/8	•
Krasnye Krylia				GS	1/4	1/4	•
Lokomotiv Kuban				4th	2nd	1/4	•
Nizhny Novgorod				1/8	1/4	2nd	•
Spartak				1/4	1/8	1/8
Triumph					1/8	1/4
UNICS		2nd	3rd	2nd	1/4	1/2	•
Zenit							•
Azovmash	6th	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS
Budivelnik				GS
Dnipro			GS	QR
Donetsk		GS			1/8	GS
Kyiv	3rd

Titles

Key to colors
	VTB United League Promo-Cup

Season	Finals & Final Four host	Finals			Third and fourth place
Season	Finals & Final Four host	Gold	Score	Silver	Bronze	Score	Fourth Place
2008–09 Details	Russia (USK CSKA, Moscow) †	CSKA	70–66	Khimki	Kyiv	86–73	Dynamo
2009–10 Details	Lithuania (Sports Hall, Kaunas)	CSKA	66–55	UNICS	Žalgiris	78–72	Khimki
2010–11 Details	Russia (Basket Hall, Kazan)	Khimki	66–64	CSKA	UNICS	95–75	Azovmash
2011–12 Details	Lithuania (Siemens Arena, Vilnius)	CSKA	74–62	UNICS	Lietuvos rytas	91–83	Lokomotiv-Kuban
2012–13 Details	In home and away court	CSKA	3–1	Lokomotiv-Kuban	Žalgiris	Did not play	Khimki
2013–14 Details	In home and away court	CSKA	3–0	Nizhny Novgorod	UNICS	Did not play	Lietuvos rytas

† The whole tournament was staged in Moscow, including the Final Four.

Awards

MVP and Playoffs MVP

Season	Season MVP	Team	Playoffs MVP	Team
2008–09	—	—	Ramūnas Šiškauskas	CSKA
2009–10	Victor Khryapa	CSKA	J. R. Holden	CSKA
2010–11	Ramel Curry	Azovmash	Vitaly Fridzon	Khimki
2011–12	Andrei Kirilenko	CSKA	Andrei Kirilenko	CSKA
2012–13	E. J. Rowland	VEF	Victor Khryapa	CSKA
2013–14	Andrew Goudelock	Unics Kazan	Miloš Teodosić	CSKA

Other awards

References

^ "New clubs in the VTB United League". VTB United League. 28 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
^ "About League". vtb-league.com. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
^ "PROMO-CUP: CSKA WIN". Sport Express. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
^ 20 clubs will play in VTB United League championship in seasone-2012/13, vtb-league.com, May 20, 2012
^ "PBL looks to a better future". ULEB. 30 January 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
^ Triumph applied an application to participate in the new season of VTB United League, may 20, 2012, vtb-league.com
^ BEKO PBL Press service. "BEKO PBL Board suggests scheme of 2012/2013 season". pbleague.ru. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
^ VTB League Officially Recognised.
^ FIBA Europe officially recognizes VTB United League.

External links

[vtb_expand-1] "New clubs in the VTB United League". VTB United League. 28 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.

[2] "About League". vtb-league.com. Retrieved 2009-10-15.

[3] "PROMO-CUP: CSKA WIN". Sport Express. Retrieved 2009-10-24.

[4] 20 clubs will play in VTB United League championship in seasone-2012/13, vtb-league.com, May 20, 2012

[5] "PBL looks to a better future". ULEB. 30 January 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.

[6] Triumph applied an application to participate in the new season of VTB United League, may 20, 2012, vtb-league.com

[7] BEKO PBL Press service. "BEKO PBL Board suggests scheme of 2012/2013 season". pbleague.ru. Retrieved 26 August 2012.

[8] VTB League Officially Recognised.

[9] FIBA Europe officially recognizes VTB United League.

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VTB United League 2014–15 season
Team	City, Country	Arena	Head coach
Nymburk	Nymburk, Czech Republic	ČEZ Aréna	Kęstutis Kemzūra
Enisey	Krasnoyarsk, Russia	Ivan Yarygin Sports Palace	Stevan Karadžić
Kalev/Cramo	Tallinn, Estonia	Saku Suurhall	Alar Varrak
Lokomotiv-Kuban	Krasnodar, Russia	Basket Hall	Evgeniy Pashutin
Nizhny Novgorod	Nizhny Novgorod, Russia	Trade Union Sport Palace	Zoran Lukić
Zenit	Saint Petersburg, Russia	Sibur Arena	Vasily Karasev
Nilan Bisons Loimaa	Loimaa, Finland	Loimaa Sports Center	Greg Gibson
UNICS	Kazan, Russia	Basket Hall Arena	Andrea Trinchieri
Astana	Astana, Kazakhstan	Saryarka Velodrome	Aleksandar Trifunović
CSKA	Moscow, Russia	CSKA Universal Sports Hall	Ettore Messina
Khimki	Khimki, Russia	Basketball Center	Rimas Kurtinaitis
Krasnye Krylia	Samara, Russia	MTL Arena	Sergey Bazarevich
Triumph	Lyubertsy, Russia	SH Triumph	Vasily Karasev
Tsmoki-Minsk	Minsk, Belarus	Minsk Arena	Donaldas Kairys
VEF Rīga	Riga, Latvia	Arena Riga	Ramūnas Butautas
Krasny Oktyabr	Volgograd, Russia	Volgograd Sports Pаlace	Valentyn Berestnyev