HEBA A1 - History

History

Basketball first came to Greece in the year 1910. By the 1927-28 season, the first official championship began. There have been four different official championship eras. The first era was the Panhellenic Championship (Πανελλήνιο Πρωτάθλημα), which lasted from the 1927-28 to 1962-63 seasons, when the champions of every regional district played each other to decide the Greek Champion. The second era started in the 1963-64 season, when the A National Category (Α' Εθνική Κατηγορία) was founded.

In 1969, the Hellenic Basketball Federation (E.O.K.) took over the duties of overseeing the competition, and did so until the year 1992. The third era of the championship existed between the 1986-87 and 1991-92 seasons, when the first division A1 National Category (Α1 Εθνική Κατηγορία), with a regular season and playoffs, and the second division A2 National Category (Α2 Εθνική Κατηγορία) were formed. The fourth era of the championship began in the 1992-93 season, when the Hellenic Basketball Clubs Association (HEBA) took over the competition and renamed the first division the HEBA A1 (ΕΣΑΚΕ Α1), and the second division the HEBA A2 (ΕΣΑΚΕ Α2).

The Greek League has been one of the most competitive basketball leagues in Europe through the years and it was widely regarded as the second best national league in the world after only the NBA in the 1990s decade. It currently ranks among the best national domestic leagues in the world (excluding the NBA), such as Liga ACB in Spain and Lega A in Italy. It is considered one of the 3 European "A" level leagues under the ULEB League Rankings System. The league has several great powers which belong to the most traditional European basketball clubs, especially the Euroleague giants Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. Other clubs that have had significant successes throughout the history of Greek basketball are AEK Athens and Aris. Along with PAOK, the aforementioned clubs are the most successful and widely supported in Greece.

Despite the championship having been contested 71 times, only nine different clubs have won it so far. The dominating club has always been Panathinaikos, having claimed the championship 32 times. Since its foundation, only two teams have participated in every season of the first division since 1963-64: Panathinaikos and Aris.