The Professional Basketball League (), often abbreviated to the RPBL, was the pre-eminent men's professional

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 in Russia, and the successor to the Russian Super League 1, which is now the second-tier division of the

Russian basketball league system The Russian basketball league system is a hierarchical league system for professional basketball clubs in Russia, with promotion and relegation between different levels of competition. There are currently five levels of competition: the VTB U ...

. The PBL was the second version of the Russian Professional Basketball Championship.

History

Established in 2010, the league contained 10 teams in its inaugural 2010–11 season. 9 of those teams participated in the 2009–10 season of Russian Super League 1, and the 10th team was

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

. The 2011–12 season featured 10 teams, like the inaugural season, however, Dynamo Moscow was replaced with the 2011 Russian Super League 1 champions

Spartak Primorye BC Spartak Primorye () is a Russian professional basketball club that is based in Vladivostok, Russia. It currently plays in the Russian Super League 1. Notable players * Victor Keyru: (2006–07) * Nikolay Padius: (2008–09, 2012–13) * ...

Merging with VTB United League

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 merging 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. 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. 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.

Champions

Awards winners

Most Valuable Player

* Maciej Lampe: (

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

) * Davon Jefferson: (

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

)