Introduction To The AirAsia ABL

The AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League is the region’s first professional league of any sport and was established to work in tandem with each country’s respective national associations to grow and develop basketball in South East Asia.

Competition level is very high in the league, with each team being allowed 3 ASEAN imports and 2 international imports into their squad each season to allow a more even playing field between the countries. On top of that, the AirAsia ABL Champions will also go on to represent South East Asia in the FIBA Asia Championship for that year.

What makes the AirAsia ABL unique is that each team is privately owned by business leaders or investors who are fully responsible for their own P&L. Also, as part of the league’s main goal, each team is encouraged to maintain their own youth development programs to enable the sport’s growth at a grassroots level in each country.

Who's Got Game?

Formed in 2009, the first countries to do battle were Indonesia with the Satria Muda BritAma, Malaysia with the Westports KL Dragons, Singapore with the Singapore Slingers, Brunei with the Brunei Barracudas, Thailand with the Thailand Tigers and ended with the basketball powerhouse of the region the Philippines winning the inaugural season with the AirAsia Philippines Patriots.

Season 2 saw the same 6 teams competing for the trophy but interesting developments saw the Thailand Tigers become the Chang Thailand Slammers, who then went on the win the league, beating out Season 1 champions and favourites the AirAsia Philippines Patriots.

Further shake-ups in Season 3 sees the Brunei Barracudas taking a break from the league but, more importantly, also the inclusion of three new teams including the Saigon Heat from Vietnam, a second Thai team the Bangkok Basketball Holdings and a second Philippines team the San Miguel Beermen entering the ring, bringing the total number of teams up to 8.

Tipping off on the 14th of January 2012, Season 3 also sees the Satria Muda BritAma become the Indonesia Warriors and the Westports KL Dragons become the Westports Malaysia Dragons.

With the inclusion of brand new teams from Vietnam and Thailand and Philippines Basketball Association legends the San Miguel Beermen now included into an already volatile mix, it will be very interesting to see how Season 3 will play out.

AirAsia ABL Structure

The AirAsia ABL is a collaboration between Tan Sri Dato' Tony Fernandes, entrepreneur and the founder of AirAsia, the largest no-frills, budget airline in the region, Indonesian media giant E-Live Entertainment and the South East Asian Basketball Association (SEABA). SEABA is sanctioned by FIBA Asia which is part of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the world governing body for basketball, and an independent association formed by 213 National federations of basketball throughout the world. The AirAsia ABL is supported by solid financial backing and marketed as a sports and lifestyle property, making it more accessible to the 600 million population of the ASEAN region.