The Tercera FEB, formerly known as Liga EBA (''Liga Española de Baloncesto Aficionado''), is a Spanish

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 ...

championship that is the fourth tier level in the

Spanish basketball league system The Spanish basketball league system is a series of connected competitions for professional basketball clubs in Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North A ...

, after the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

Primera FEB The Primera FEB, formerly known as LEB or LEB Oro, is the second basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system after the Liga ACB. It is run by the Spanish Basketball Federation, FEB. The FEB leagues are divided into three categorie ...

and

Segunda FEB The Segunda FEB, formerly known as LEB 2 and LEB Plata, is the third basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system and the second basketball division organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation. Since 2019, three teams are promoted ...

. It is administered by the FEB. It was previously the Spanish second tier level competition from 1994 to 1996, the third tier level from 1996 to 2000, and the fifth tier level, from 2007 to 2009. From the 2024–25 season it will be named Tercera FEB.

Competition format

The Tercera FEB is made up of five inter-regional groups. After the regular season, sixteen teams advance to the playoffs, where only four teams are promoted to the

. The lowest ranked teams of each group, are

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

to the Primera División.

History

Final Eight Format

The best teams in the Final Eight were usually promoted to a higher division. Due to economic problems, sometimes the winners couldn't be promoted to higher divisions.

Final groups format

The 16 qualified teams were divided in four groups of four teams. The winners of the regular season groups hosted each group. The four group winners were promoted to the disappeared LEB Bronce. After the play-offs, the FEB set a table to determine the official champion of the Liga EBA. In this table, the four group winners were the four first qualified teams, the runners-up from 5th to 8th, third qualifiers from 9th to 12th and last teams from 13th to 16th.

'May madness' format

The 32 qualified teams played a two-leg play-off where four teams were promoted to the higher division. From the 2010–11 season, only 16 teams qualified for the 'May madness' format. Four teams were promoted each season to

LEB Plata The Segunda FEB, formerly known as LEB 2 and LEB Plata, is the third basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system and the second basketball division organized by the Spanish Basketball Federation. Since 2019, three teams are promote ...

. For the 2012–13 season, FEB decided to return to the Final Groups format. After the play-offs, the FEB set a table to determine the official champion of the Liga EBA.

Comeback to the Final groups format

As in 2008 and 2009, the final round was played by 16 teams divided in four groups, where the winners were promoted to LEB Plata. Since the 2018–19 season, teams were divided into two stages for six promotions.

Copa EBA

The Copa EBA was a competition held from 1996 to 2000 season. This cup was held after the end of the regular season and was played by the champions of the groups.

References

External links

Spanish Basketball Federation Official Website

Liga EBA History
{{LEB Plata 4 Fourth level basketball leagues in Europe