BBL Trophy
Current season, competition or edition: 2015–16 British Basketball League season
|
|
The BBL Trophy logo
|
|
| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| No. of teams | 16 for 2014–15 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Continent |
 FIBA Europe (Europe) |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Leicester Riders (1st title) |
| Most titles |
Newcastle Eagles (5 titles) |
| Related competitions |
BBL Championship BBL Cup |
The British Basketball League Trophy, often shortened to the BBL Trophy, is an annual cup competition for British basketball teams organised by the United Kingdom's top professional league, the British Basketball League. It is one of two peripheral competitions operated by the League during the regular season, with the other being the BBL Cup. The competition's structure and format vary from season to season and often includes invited clubs from the English Basketball League and the Scottish Basketball League. The final takes place in March, usually at a neutral venue.
The BBL Trophy can trace its origins back to a previous competition known as the Anglo-Scottish Cup which was founded in 1984. The Anglo-Scottish Cup featured teams from the English National Basketball League and the National League of Scotland, and was first won by Scottish team Livingston in 1985. The competition was renamed as the British Masters Cup for the following season and though the initial group stage was played early in the regular season, the knock-out stages were now played during the post-season, almost simultaneously with the Play-offs. Birmingham Bullets emerged as the competition's second winners, and the first from England, whilst emerging powerhouse Kingston won the 1987 edition.
Following the launch of the new British Basketball League administration in 1987 – taking over control of the National Basketball League from the English Basketball Association – the British Masters Cup was scrapped and replaced with the newly formed League Trophy. The new competition, sponsored by NatWest and christened as the NatWest Trophy, featured only the 15 member teams of Carlsberg League, including new Scottish entrant and former Anglo-Scottish Cup winner, Livingston. The first round of the new tournament divided the 15 teams into regional groups, with each group winner progressing to the Semi-final stage. Calderdale Explorers and Livingston progressed from the two Northern groups, whilst Kingston and Portsmouth advanced in the Southern groups. In the Semi-finals the two Northern area teams competed against each other, as did the two Southern teams, to ensure the Final would feature a North versus South match-up. The Semi-finals were played as a two-game series, with the winner decided by the biggest aggregate score. Portsmouth advanced in the Southern encounter with Kingston, winning 168-167 on aggregate, whilst Livingston beat Calderdale 158-142 on aggregate from the North. The first Final was played at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre, where Livingston continued their success from the British Masters Cup by beating Portsmouth 96-91 to become the first and so far only Scottish winners.
...
Wikipedia