,
Oscar Schmidt, played in the FIBA South American League Grand Finals twice, in 1996 and 1997. The
South American Championship of Champions Clubs, which was founded in 1946, was the first international club tournament played between basketball clubs from South America, and it was the
first-tier and most important club competition in South America. In 1993, the
Pan American Club Championship was launched including also Central American teams and was held annually until 2000.The FIBA South American League was founded in 1996 and became the top South American competition, with the historical South American Basketball Championship becoming now the second tier. The champions of the FIBA South American League would automatically earn a spot to the biennial World club competition of the
McDonald's Championship which was supported by
FIBA.
Atenas in
1997 and
Vasco da Gama in
1999 were the only two teams that represented South America in the competition which also included
NBA champions. Atenas also represented South America as champions in the
1996 FIBA Intercontinental Cup. With the emergence of the new panamerican competition called the
FIBA Americas League, in December 2007, the FIBA South American League became the second-tier international club championship in South America, beginning with the 2008 edition of the competition. The winner was also allocated a spot in the following year's
FIBA Americas League. On 24 September 2019, FIBA launched the competition, which derives its name and branding from the
European Basketball Champions League. The competition replaced the FIBA Americas League as premier league in the Americas. The competition will consist of twelve teams, which have to qualify through their domestic leagues. The inaugural season is expected to start in October 2019. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were cancelled because of the effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the league returned.
FIBA South American League levels on the South American pyramid • 1st-tier: (2001 – 2007) • 2nd-tier: (1996 – 2000, 2008 – Present)
Names of the top-tier level South American / Latin American competition •
CONSUBASQUET era: (1946–2007) •
Campeonato Sudamericano de Clubes Campeones de Básquetbol (
English: South American Basketball Championship of Champions Clubs): (1946–1992) •
Campeonato Panamericano de Clubes de Básquetbol (
English: Pan American Basketball Club Championship): (1993–2000) •
Liga Sudamericana de Básquetbol (LSB) (
English: South American Basketball League): (2001–2007) •
FIBA Americas era: (2007–present) •
FIBA Americas League: (2007 – 2019) •
Basketball Champions League Americas: (2019 – present) == Title holders ==