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2009–10 LKL season

Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL)
Beko lkl.svg
Country  Lithuania
Founded April 22, 1993; 24 years ago (1993-04-22)
First season 1993–94
Number of teams 10
Level on pyramid 1
Relegation to NKL
Domestic cup(s) King Mindaugas Cup
International cup(s) EuroLeague
EuroCup
Champions League
FIBA Europe Cup
Current champions Žalgiris
(19th title)
Most championships Žalgiris
(19 titles)
TV partners BTV, DELFI TV
Website www.lkl.lt
2017–18 LKL season

Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL) (English: Lithuanian Basketball League) is the premier professional men's basketball league in Lithuania, composed of 10 teams, and a member of the Lithuanian Basketball Federation. Top LKL clubs are annual participants of the top international competitions in Europe, including the top-tier level EuroLeague.

On April 22, 1993, the Lietuvos krepšinio asosiacija (English: Lithuanian Basketball Association) (LKA) was founded. It was the first professional sports organisation in Lithuania. Lietuvos krepšinio lyga was built on the foundation of the LKA. The league's headquarters is located in Vilnius.

The Lithuanian Basketball Association was founded on 22 April 1993, when eight of the strongest Lithuanian basketball clubs' officials met with representatives of the Šarūnas Marčiulionis basketball fund in Vilnius. The original eight teams were: Žalgiris Kaunas, Atletas Kaunas, Drobė Kaunas, Statyba Vilnius, Olimpas Plungė, BC Šilutė, Lietkabelis Panevėžys and Neptūnas Klaipėda. This association would soon be renamed to Lietuvos krepšinio lyga (LKL) due to legal issues, also announcing their that would start in the upcoming fall. By the end of spring, before the season started, the LKA and their new league accepted two more teams – Lavera Kaunas and NECA Kaunas.

Following the 1993–94 season, the finalists of last season's LKAL, Sakalai Vilnius & BC Šiauliai joined the league, while Drobė Kaunas decided to withdraw due to financial difficulties. The 1994–95 season saw the league's foreign players emerge as star power, before they were more known to be role players. In the 1995–96 season the league continued to accept the champions of the LKAL to the league, Savy Alytus joined the league. Sharpshooter Joe Vickery became the first foreigner to lead the LKL in scoring for Olimpas. League officials would start pressuring teams to play in better arenas by setting up certain criteria that were necessary to get accepted into the league. That's why no more teams were accepted until 1998 when Olimpas Plungė went bankrupt and was replaced by BC Kraitienė based in Marijampolė. Some of the strongest teams like Šilutė and Atletas faded away to the bottom of the league and left the league.


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Wikipedia

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