Club Basket Bilbao Berri S.A.D.,[1] commonly known as Bilbao Basket (pronounced[bilˈβaoβasˈket]), also known as Surne Bilbao Basket for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Bilbao, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB. Their home arena is the Bilbao Arena, Spain.
History
The club was founded in 2000 after replacing the former city clubs: Cajabilbao and SD Patronato. After four seasons between LEB and LEB 2, Bilbao promoted to Liga ACB in 2004 by winning by 3–1 to Baloncesto León in the LEB semifinals.
Bilbao spent ten seasons in the top tier of the Spanish basketball becoming finalist of the league in the 2010–11 season, where it lost in the finals to FC Barcelona by 3–0. In 2012, Bilbao played the EuroLeague and it was eliminated in the quarterfinals by CSKA Moscow, who won the series by 3–1.
On 17 July 2014, the ACB excluded Bilbao Basket from the Liga ACB due to its financial trouble,[2] but on 8 August, the Association was forced to retire the exclusion and finally Bilbao Basket remained in the Spanish top league.[3]
The club played four more seasons in Liga ACB until their relegation on 13 May 2018, after losing against Baskonia the Basque derby by 74–78.
Sponsorship naming
Bilbao Basket has had several denominations through the years due to its sponsorship:
^A homegrown player is a player that played for at least three years before the age of 20 on an Spanish team. In Liga ACB, the team must register at least four homegrown players in rosters of 10–12 players or at least three homegrown players in rosters of 8–9 players.
^A overseas player is a player from outside EEA, FIBA Europe or ACP states. In Liga ACB, the team may register at most two overseas players.