WABA League

Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 WABA League
Official logo of the WABA League
Sport	Basketball
Founded	2001
First season	2001–02
No. of teams	12
Country	Austria  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bulgaria  Croatia  Montenegro  Serbia  Slovenia
Continent	FIBA Europe
Most recent champion(s)	Cinkarna Celje (5th title)
Most titles	Šibenik (5 titles)
Official website	waba-league.com

WABA League, commonly known as the Adriatic League, is a top-level regional basketball league, featuring female teams from Serbia, Montenegro, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Croatia. Clubs from Turkey, North Macedonia, Hungary and Italy had their representatives in WABA League in past seasons. Since 2012 a Cadet WABA League and since 2014 Pionir WABA League is also played.

WABA League was established in 2001 as EWWL League. In its first season, it included six teams from four countries (Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina). After the regular season, it held a tournament in which the three best teams played, which was won by Athlete Celje. Next season, the league expanded from six to eight teams, and the final tournament was altered so that the placement included the four top teams. At the final tournament, the winner was Željezničar Sarajevo.

In 2003, the league changed its name to EWWL Trocal League, which lasted until 2006. During these seasons, the number of teams who played in the league varied from nine to twelve. In the period from 2004 to 2006, it had a representative from Macedonia and then one from Bulgaria in the 2006–07 season. Austrian clubs left the competition in 2004. Since 2003, the competing teams have been from Serbia and Montenegro. In 2006, the league changed its name to WABA NBL which was used until 2008. In 2006, the WABA Cup launched, which existed until 2010 and was attended by participants in the league. In 2007, the WABA Cup bore the name Vojko Herskel. In the 2008–09 season, the league was named after WABA Multipover; in 2009–10 season, it was named IWBL.

In 2010, the league changed its name to MŽRKL. The Vojko Herksel Cup was last played. In the 2012–13 season, the league included the Hungarian PEAC-Pécs, and the Belgrade Partizan achieved a record in its history, playing 32 matches in the national competitions (regional league, championship and cup) all season without suffering a defeat. In the season of 2013–14, the format of the competition changed. The twelve participating teams were divided into two groups of six teams. Four first-placed teams were placed in the quarterfinals, with the winners to the Final Four.

In the 2015-16 season, the league introduced instead of quarterfinals League 6, in which the first phase the two groups are placed by 3 teams. The League 6 transmitted the results achieved against teams from the same group in the first phase they finished the League 6. League 6 plays a dual circuit system (one game at home and one away) against teams that have qualified from the opposite group previous stage of the competition. The four best teams in League 6 advance to the Final Four.

In September 2016, the league officially changed its name to WABA League.^[1] In June 2017, the league signed a sponsorship contract with tourist agency BTravel and officially changed its name to BTravel WABA League.^[2]

• EWWL League (2001–2003)
• EWWL Trocal League (2003–2006)
• WABA NBL (2006–2008)
• WABA Multipower (2008–2009)
• IWBL (2009–2010)
• MŽRKL (2010–2016)
• WABA League (2016–present)

Evolution of the Adriatic League logo
2001–2010	2010–2016	2016–2017	2017–2018	2018–present
n/a		without a logo		n/a

In the season 2012–13, the Cadet League was launched, and since it has shown a lot of success in that period, it has continued to be held.^[3] The winner of the first two seasons of cadet WABA League is the team Trešnjevka 2009 from Croatia, when he beat the team of Novi Zagreb^[4] and Crvena zvezda.^[5] In the third seasonis the champion was the team of Triglav Kranj, Slovenia, which is defeated in the final match of Maribor.^[6]

Following the success of cadet league, a decision was made to launch the pioneering leagues.^[7] In the first season, the winner of the pioneering league is team Croatia 2006 from Zagreb, Croatia, that won at the team of Jedinstvo Tuzla from Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[8]

Year	Host	Final			Third and fourth place
		Winner	Score	Runner-up	Third place	Fourth place
2001–02 Details	Šibenik (CRO)	Merkur Celje	2:1	Šibenik Jolly JBS	Željezničar Sarajevo	N / A
2002–03 Details	Sarajevo (BIH)	Željezničar Sarajevo	84:78	Šibenik Jolly JBS	Merkur Celje	Gospić Industrogradnja
2003–04 Details	Gospić (CRO)	Gospić Industrogradnja	59:58	Šibenik Jolly JBS	Croatia 2006	Univerziteti Priština
2004–05 Details	Šibenik (CRO)	Šibenik Jolly JBS	82:66	Gospić Industrogradnja	Vojvodina NIS	Željezničar Sarajevo
2005–06 Details	Novi Sad (SCG)	Šibenik Jolly JBS	68:55	Vojvodina NIS	Merkur Celje	Gospić Croatia Osiguranje
2006–07 Details	Sofia (BUL)	CSKA Sofia	73:67	Šibenik Jolly JBS	Gospić Croatia Osiguranje	Željezničar Sarajevo
2007–08 Details	Gospić (CRO)	Šibenik Jolly JBS	72:66	Gospić Croatia Osiguranje	Ragusa Dubrovnik	Budućnost Podgorica
2008–09 Details	Bijelo Polje (MNE)	Šibenik Jolly JBS	69:63	Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje	Gospić Croatia Osiguranje	Merkur Celje
2009–10 Details	Gospić (CRO)	Gospić	73:65	Šibenik Jolly JBS	Merkur Celje	Mladi Krajišnik
2010–11 Details	Šibenik (CRO)	Šibenik Jolly JBS	20:0	Gospić	Merkur Celje	Partizan
2011–12 Details	Zenica (BIH)	Partizan Galenika	74:65	Čelik Zenica	Voždovac	Hemofarm Štada
2012–13 Details	Novi Sad (SRB)	Partizan Galenika	70:45	Radivoj Korać	Peac-Pécs	Vojvodina NIS
2013–14 Details	Podgorica (MNE)	Radivoj Korać	87:83	Crvena zvezda	Athlete Celje	Budućnost Volcano
2014–15 Details	Celje (SLO)	Umana Reyer Venezia	69:52	Radivoj Korać	Budućnost Volcano	Athlete Celje
2015–16 Details	Podgorica (MNE)	Budućnost Bemax	74:58	Medveščak	Radivoj Korać	Kvarner
2016–17 Details	Podgorica (MNE)	Athlete Celje	61:57	Beroe	Budućnost Bemax	Montana 2003
2017–18 Details	Montana (BUL)	Budućnost Bemax	71:68	Cinkarna Celje	Montana 2003	Crvena zvezda
2018–19 Details	Celje (SLO)	Beroe	65:64	Budućnost Bemax	Cinkarna Celje	Crvena zvezda
2019–20 Details	Stara Zagora (BUL)	Budućnost Bemax	Final four not played	Cinkarna Celje	Montana 2003	Beroe
2020–21 Details	Stara Zagora (BUL)	Beroe	66:56	Budućnost Bemax	Montana 2003	Cinkarna Celje
2021–22 Details	Podgorica (MNE)	Cinkarna Celje	58:51	Budućnost Bemax	Orlovi	Montana 2003
2022–23 Details	Podgorica (MNE)	Cinkarna Celje	66:64	Budućnost Bemax	Vojvodina 021	Montana 2003
2023–24 Details	Podgorica (MNE)	Cinkarna Celje	64:59	Budućnost Bemax	Orlovi	Sloga Požega

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runner-up
Šibenik	5	5	2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011	2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010
Cinkarna Celje	5	2	2002, 2017, 2022, 2023, 2024	2018, 2020
Budućnost Podgorica	3	5	2016, 2018, 2020	2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Gospić	2	3	2004, 2010	2005, 2008, 2011
Beroe	2	1	2019, 2021	2017
Partizan	2	–	2012, 2013	–
Radivoj Korać	1	2	2014	2013, 2015
Željezničar Sarajevo	1	–	2003	–
CSKA Sofia	1	–	2007	–
Umana Reyer Venezia	1	–	2015	–
Vojvodina	–	1	–	2006
Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje	–	1	–	2009
Čelik Zenica	–	1	–	2012
Crvena zvezda	–	1	–	2014
Medveščak	–	1	–	2016

• Stipe Bralić
• Slađan Ivić
• Marina Maljković
• Dragan Vuković

Most Valuable Player [edit] Season Player Team 2001–02 n / a 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 Anđa Jelavić Vanda Baranović Jelena Dubljević Šibenik Jolly JBS Gospić Croatia Osiguranje Budućnost Podgorica 2005–06 Sandra Popović Šibenik Jolly JBS 2006–07 Latasha Byears CSKA Sofia 2007–08 Lucie Conkova Merkur Celje 2008–09 Constance Jinks Šibenik Jolly JBS 2009–10 Jelena Ivezić Gospić Croatia Osiguranje 2010–11 Ana Turčinović Merkur Celje 2011–12 Tamara Radočaj Partizan Galenika 2012–13 Milica Dabović Partizan Galenika 2013–14 Tavelyn James Athlete Celje 2014–15 Marica Gajić Athlete Celje 2015–16 Božica Mujović Budućnost Volcano 2016–17 Nikolina Delić Play Off Ultra 2017–18 Zala Friškovec Cinkarna Celje 2018–19 Nikolina Babić Budućnost Bemax 2019–20 Josipa Pavić Trešnjevka 2009 2020–21 Aleksandra Mužević Orlovi 2021–22 La Mama Kapinga Maweja ŽKK Plamen Požega 2022–23 2023–24 Thayna Silva Cinkarna Celje

Final Four Most Valuable Player [edit] Season Player Team 2001–02 Katja Temnik Merkur Celje 2002–03 Mirna Deak Željezničar Sarajevo 2003–04 Vanda Baranović-Urukalo Gospić Industrogradnja 2004–05 Ivona Bogoje Šibenik Jolly JBS 2005–06 Sandra Popović Šibenik Jolly JBS 2006–07 Latasha Byears CSKA Sofia 2007–08 Anđa Jelavić Šibenik Jolly JBS 2008–09 Nataša Popović Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje 2009–10 Carla Thomas Gospić Croatia Osiguranje 2010–11 n / a 2011–12 Tamara Radočaj Partizan Galenika 2012–13 Nataša Bučevac Vojvodina NIS 2013–14 Haleigh Lankster Budućnost Volcano 2014–15 Shannon McCallum Umana Reyer Venezia 2015–16 Irena Matović Budućnost Volcano 2016–17 Annamaria Prezelj Athlete Celje 2017–18 Božica Mujović Budućnost Volcano 2018–19 Snežana Aleksić Beroe 2019–20 Final Four has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020–21 Jaklin Zlatanova Beroe

Top Scorer [edit] Season Player Team 2001–02 n / a 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 Anica Tešić Željezničar Sarajevo 2005–06 Ana Dabović Herceg Novi 2006–07 n / a 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 Ljubica Kure AJM Maribor 2011–12 Teja Oblak Athlete Celje 2012–13 Sanja Orozović Athlete Celje 2013–14 Tavelyn James Athlete Celje 2014–15 Haleigh Lankster Grosbasket 2015–16 Marica Gajić Athlete Celje 2016–17 Monique Reid Beroe 2017–18 Nikolina Džebo Play Off Ultra 2018–19 Ana Poček Beroe 2019–20 Jelena Nikpaljević Orlovi 2020–21 Tamara Rajić Orlovi

Title sponsor

• BTravel (Croatian tourist agency) (June 2017 - 2018)

• Vojko Herksel Cup

• Official website
• Profile at Eurobasket.com