AsiaBasket is an

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n men's

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

league founded in 2021. The league hosts tournaments consisting of senior and collegiate teams based in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. Originally called the Filipino Basketball League, or FilBasket in short, it initially began as a domestic basketball tournament in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. Its first tournament was the 2021 Subic Championship held in October 2021. The league began inviting international teams in 2022, marking the start of the league's international expansion. The league was renamed as AsiaBasket beginning with the

2023 International Championship The 2023 International Championship (officially the 2023 Du Xiaoman International Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 5 to 12 November 2023 at the in Tianjin, China. It was the ninth iteration of the Interna ...

. Eight teams have won the championship once, with the most recent champions being the

De La Salle Green Archers The De La Salle Green Archers and Lady Archers are the varsity teams representing De La Salle University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, among other leagues. The "Green Archer" is the traditional university mascot. Whi ...

, who won the 2025 College Campus Tour.

History

FilBasket era (2021–2022)

FilBasket was established by former

UAAP The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univer ...

player

Jai Reyes Jose Antonio Gonzales Reyes (born February 25, 1987) is a Filipino former professional basketball player. He previously played for the Ateneo de Manila University where he spent his elementary, high school, and college years. Reyes also hoste ...

and Buddy Encarnado of the

Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's regional professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 30 teams. Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion and then-Senator Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is ...

's Pasig Sta. Lucia Realtors in 2021. It was founded as a means to provide a platform for basketball players whose careers were disrupted by the

COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines The COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , there have been reported cases, and reported deaths, the fift ...

. This includes players of the

which saw its 2019–20 season suspended and the succeeding

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

delayed due to COVID-19 measures. Hence, multiple MPBL teams joined the FilBasket tournaments as a way to continue playing competitive games, beginning a trend of MPBL teams taking part in other leagues during the off-season.

First tournament and dispute

FilBasket began its first tournament, the Subic Championship, on October 28, 2021, after securing approval from the

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA; ) is a governmental agency of the Philippines. The SBMA has played a significant part in the development of the Subic Special Economic and Freeport Zone into a self-sustainable area that promotes the ...

(SBMA) and the

Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) is an inactive task force organized by the executive of the government of the Philippines to respond to affairs concerning emerging infectious diseases in ...

(IATF-EID) for a bubble tournament at the Subic Bay Gymnasium. The tournament, however, did get the

disputed Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an oppo ...

by the

Games and Amusements Board The Games and Amusements Board (GAB; ) is the government-run regulatory body of professional sports in the Philippines. History The Games and Amusements Board initially started its operation in 1951 with the issuance of Executive Order No. 392 ...

(GAB) regarding its amateur status, with the GAB contending that it is a professional league, and later issuing a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

order. Eventually, the GAB didn't go further with the legal action and FilBasket would subsequently begin the transition to professional status after sending a letter of intent to the GAB, which would be competed by February 2022.

2022

As FilBasket turned professional, the league began attracting the Asian basketball market with the 2022 Summer Championship, which ran from March until May 2022. The tournament featured the first international team: the Kuala Lumpur Aseel based in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, being invited as a guest team. The following tournament would also be its first international tournament, the 2022 International Championship held in the latter part of 2022 in Malaysia. It was also the first tournament under the current format, replacing the traditional round-robin format of other Philippine basketball leagues with a group-stage format.

AsiaBasket era (since 2023)

2023

On March 3, 2023, FilBasket announced their renaming to AsiaBasket to accommodate with the expansion into the Asian basketball market. The first tournament under the ''AsiaBasket'' name was the

, which also took place in

in April 2023. Although the league previously stated that the ''FilBasket'' name would be retained for local competitions in the Philippines, the ''AsiaBasket'' name was still used for the 2023 Las Piñas Championship in July 2023, which featured an all-Filipino roster of teams competing in

Las Piñas Las Piñas (, officially the City of Las Piñas (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of ...

. The 2023 Dasmariñas Championship then took place in

Dasmariñas Dasmariñas (), officially the City of Dasmariñas (), is a component city in the province of Cavite, Philippines. With a land area of and a population of 703,141 people according to the 2020 census, it is the largest city both in terms of ...

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...

, Philippines in November 2023, and featured

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

-based Statham Academy, marking the first time the league featured a team based outside of Asia.

2024

AsiaBasket then intended to host its first tournament in

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...

with the 2024 Cebu Championship. It was initially announced to start in April at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu before moving to the Toledo City Sports Center in

Toledo, Cebu Toledo ( ), officially the City of Toledo (; ), is a component city in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 207,314 people. On June 18, 1960, Toledo became a chartered city under Republic A ...

, and subsequently postponing it to May. The tournament would eventually not push through and would later be replaced by the

2024 International Championship The 2024 International Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 3 to 10 November 2024 at the South New City National Fitness Center (SNCNFC) in Nanjing, China. The eighth Snooker world rankings, ranking event of t ...

, which will take place at

Enderun Colleges Enderun Colleges is a private non-sectarian undergraduate college situated at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was established in 2005, then in its former campus in Wynsum Corporate Plaza in Ortigas Center. ...

Taguig Taguig (), officially the City of Taguig (), is the List of cities in the Philippines, fifth-most populous city in the Philippines situated on the eastern shores of Metro Manila, the national capital region. It is a center for culture, finance ...

beginning July 9, 2024.

2025

On March 16, 2025, AsiaBasket began its first all-collegiate tournament with the 2025 College Campus Tour.

Teams

College Campus Tour 2025

The following teams competed in the 2025 AsiaBasket College Campus Tour.

Previous teams

The following teams competed in previous tournaments since the

2022 FilBasket International Championship The 2022 FilBasket International Championship, also known as the 2022 Sportsclick FilBasket International Championship – Malaysia for sponsorship reasons, was the third tournament of the Philippine-based FilBasket league, the second tourname ...

, the first to include international teams as regular competitors.

FilBasket era

The following teams competed in the league's two domestic tournaments, the

2021 FilBasket Subic Championship The FilBasket Subic Championship, also known as the FilBasket Subic Championship – Cocolife due to sponsorship reasons, was the inaugural tournament under FilBasket, now known as AsiaBasket. It was also the only tournament held in 2021. The to ...

and the

2022 FilBasket Summer Championship The 2022 FilBasket Summer Championship, officially known as the Puregold – FilBasket 2022 Summer Championship for sponsorship reasons, was the second tournament of FilBasket, now known as AsiaBasket, the first tournament of 2022, and the first ...

. As of College Campus Tour 2025, none of the listed teams below competed in future tournaments.

List of tournaments

Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of times that team has appeared in each tournament's championship game, as well as each respective teams' record in those games.

References

{{Basketball in the Philippines 2021 establishments in the Philippines Sports leagues established in 2021 Basketball leagues in the Philippines