The Slovenian Basketball League (), abbreviated as 1. SKL and known as the Liga OTP banka due to sponsorship reasons, is the top-level professional men's

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

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. The league is operated by the

Basketball Federation of Slovenia The Basketball Federation of Slovenia () also known as KZS is the governing body of basketball in Slovenia. It was founded in 1950 as a member of the larger Yugoslav Basketball Federation (see also: Basketball in Yugoslavia). In 1992, KZS joined ...

and consists of eleven clubs. The most successful team is

Cedevita Olimpija Košarkarski klub Cedevita Olimpija (), commonly referred to as KK Cedevita Olimpija or simply Olimpija, is a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The club competes in the ABA League and the Premier A Slovenian Bask ...

with 22 titles.

History

The league was founded in 1991, shortly after Slovenia's independence from SFR Yugoslavia. Before the independence, the Slovenian Republic League was played as a second or third level of Yugoslav basketball. Olimpija,

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, Slovan,

ŽKK Maribor Železničarski košarkarski klub Maribor, commonly referred to as ŽKK Maribor or simply ŽKK, was a basketball team based in Maribor, Slovenia. The club was founded in 1946 and was dissolved after the 2005–06 season due to financial difficulti ...

, Lesonit, and Branik Maribor were the only Slovenian teams that played in the Yugoslav First Federal League.

Names

Since 1991, the league has been named after sponsors on several occasions, giving it the following names: *Liga Kolinska (1998–2001) *HYPO Liga (2001–2002) *1. A SKL (2002–2006) *Liga UPC Telemach (2006–2009) *Liga Telemach (2009–2016) *Liga Nova KBM (2016–2019) *1. SKL (2019–2020) *Liga Nova KBM (2020) *1. SKL (2020–21) *Liga Nova KBM (2021–2024) *Liga OTP banka (2024–present)

Competition format

In the regular season, ten teams play each other three times for a total of 27 games. If a team competes in international competitions (

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European sports club, clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the European professional club basketball system ...

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

EuroCup Basketball EuroCup Basketball, commonly known as the EuroCup and currently called BKT EuroCup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual professional basketball club competition organized by Euroleague Basketball. The league is regarded as Euroleague Basketbal ...

) and plays at least ten international games per season, that team automatically enters the quarterfinals and does not compete in the regular season. The bottom-placed team of the regular season is relegated to the 2. SKL. The top seven teams from the regular season advance to the quarterfinals and are joined by a team that did not compete in the regular season. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, a best-of-three

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

is used. The semifinal winners advance to the best-of-five championship finals, with the winners crowned as league champions.

Current teams

''As of the 2024–25 season''

Finals

Titles by club

Finals appearances

Statistical leaders

References

External links

Official website

Slovenian League on Eurobasket.com
{{Men's professional basketball leagues 1

Sports leagues established in 1991 1991 establishments in Slovenia Professional sports leagues in Slovenia