ACB, acronym for union for basketball

Basketball, the sport devised by James Naismith at the end of the 19th century in USAneeded professionalization and a well-defined structure in Spain Once the sport had become global, after the creation of the NBA and the appearance of Bill Russell either Wilt Chamberlain. The expansion was notable, although nothing to do with what has occurred from the 80s-90s to the present day (by impact, second sport in rank behind the almighty soccer). For this reason the National League created in 1957 fell short. Six teams in their germ, the real Madrid and the Students on the part of the Castilian Federation and the Barça, Joventut, Selvedge-Green and Aismalíbar de Montcada from the Catalan, they seemed few. It was also necessary to give a boost to fan acceptance in those two decades, the 60s and 70s, in which some main actors saw that his sport did not reach the levels of success for which he was prepared.

Since 1968, only eleven years after beginning an ambitious League in Spainwide discrepancies arose about the way of carrying it, which fell on the Spanish Basketball Federation. How they collect Juan Antonio Casanova and Manuel Moreno in his magnificent serial ACB Forgersthe seed was planted by a young Gipuzkoan coach: José Antonio Gasca. Issues such as the expansion of foreign quotas or the double round format would be discussed in later years, but the important battle was that of the throne. “We must establish forever that it is the clubs and their representatives, the provincial federations, who must defend their future and the way they want to play”he said in the magazine Rebound at that time. Gasca He was the one who put the word Association in the minds of many. Another historical, Alfonso Queipo de Llanowhich we lost in 2022, was based on that same idea: “The clubs were in the hands of people who put in their money but were not owners of destinations that the company ended up managing.” Spanish Federation”. The direction was clear.

Meanwhile tug of war, not only between the Federation and the teams of the League but among some of the leaders, the Madrid Mountain Barracksa space today known by the Temple of Debod, was the place where consensus was reached on July 24, 1981. The understanding became possible in a meeting with attendees such as Lolo Sainz (Madrid), Josep Mussons (Barcelona), Miguel Ángel Bufalá (Students), Pere Antoja (Cotonificio), Carles Casas (Manresa), Ignasi Anglarill (Bonanova), Manuel Sanchez (Valladolid), Jose Antonio Hidalgo (Nautical), Juan Fernandez (Ferrol), Pepe Cabrera (Canary Islands), Jose Luis Rubio (Saragossa), Santiago March (Joventut) or the aforementioned Queipo de Llano on behalf of the Round Box. The last one was Antoni Novoaof the Granollers, who would end up being the first president. The entry acronyms were ACEB.

A new format was entered, in which sixteen groups began participating until reaching – for example currently – eighteen of the current year.

Of those Bufaláwho continues as a director in the Student Basketball Club These days, he left a priceless phrase to illustrate what that unity of the clubs meant, which can be extrapolated to other areas: “If there were no ACB It would be as if the Social Security”. With that new mentality, separating the FEB of Ernesto Segura de Luna of the organizational functions (the lawyer left the federation presidency a year later), the Association took shape definitively with the beginning of a renowned League.

From the first to what came after

The push that was given to the competition from Spanish Television helped greatly in stabilizing the League based on the association. But it was time to gamble. The ACB paid to TVE for advertising in pavilions, at first he received nothing for that contract. Then would come the closing of Canal+, with which the debate continues on whether that took away a pinch of fans or just made the product more attractive for the viewer. In the new century there was a return to Spanishtaking advantage of its weekend container program, and the transfer to payment would be repeated, now with the name of Movistartaking out a television contract with portions to be distributed among the clubs (what was intended with the first investment).

The introduction of playoffs It was a revolution of those in the eighties. One of the main ones for the viewer, without a doubt. As the comparison with football is always made from a distance, but it is done, the format continues to be avidly analyzed every year to see if more juice can be extracted from the most attractive domestic basketball league after the NBA.

The first spark on the field, where there was less unity than off it, came in the first final. A fight between Mike Davis, Fernando Martin and Juanma López Iturriagawith a sanction for the referees of that match, led to the Barça gave up and left the first one for lost ACB League in history for failure to appear in the third match of that decisive tie between Madrid and Barça. Like that brawl, like that controversy, like that final, many others. The two giants maintain the vitality of the competition today, as well as their magnanimity in the record: in this new era, the Barça about him Madrid (three away, the Barcelonans have won seventeen times).

More protagonists

A league with so much exposure generates protagonists with astonishing ease. Antonio Novoa, Juan Fernandez, Evaristo del Río, Eduardo Portela, Francisco Roca and the current one, Antonio Martinthe presidents; Lolo Sainz, Dusko Ivanovic, Xavi Pascual, Pablo Laso either Aito García Reneseson the coaching roster; Sabonis, Petrovic, blacksmiths, Creus, Epi, Lull, NavarreseBrothers Kings, DoncicBrothers Jofresa, SulfurBrothers Gasoline, Villacampa either Rodriguezamong the players with the most impact.

Martinwho has presided over the institution since 2018, assesses on behalf of the Endesa League this mention: “The inclusion of the ACB in it Hall of Fame It is a great honor, and I want to thank the ACE and the Spanish Federationbut above all I think it is the recognition of all the clubs and people who led the creation of the ACB 40 years ago and have developed this organization ever since. His work over the last decades has led to the ACB to become, for some time now, the best national competition of Europe and a reference within the world of sports.”

All of them have made an institution created over fifteen years between meetings, disagreements and desire to make basketball bigger. That is why the FEBthe institution that stepped aside to make way for them, recognizes the ACB as a contributor to the edition of Hall of Fame Spanish that coincides with the federative centenary. Hand in hand, as expected, to achieve the goal: keep Spain as a reference for management and prestige in this sport.