Lietuvos Krepšinio Lyga

Lietuvos Krepšinio Lyga
Country	Lithuania
Founded	1993
Number of teams	13
Website	[LKL.lt Official website]

The Lietuvos Krepšinio Lyga (LKL) (English: Lithuanian Basketball League) is Lithuania's premier professional men's basketball league, composed of 13 teams.

History

Since the league began, it has been dominated by Žalgiris. They won the league championship trophy six consecutive years, from 1994 through 1999. Their main rival during those years was Atletas, but in the 1999–2000 season a big surprise for Lithuanian basketball fans, dominant Žalgiris dynasty ended by the triumph of Vilnius Lietuvos Rytas. In 2000–2001 season the greens got their revenge by beating Rytas in the finals. In 2001–2002 season, Lietuvos Rytas led by Ramūnas Šiškauskas and Arvydas Macijauskas once again defeated Žalgiris in the finals. However next 3 seasons Žalgiris took the control of the league and outplayed Rytas in 3 finals in a row (2003, 2004, 2005). The green's leader back then was Tanoka Beard, he was the leader in scoring & rebounding in the finals. In 2006, Rytas joined Zalgiris and was playing in the strongest European basketball competition — Euroleague, that season the reds led by Robertas Javtokas, Simas Jasaitis, and Fred House have crushed greens in finals series, beating them (4-0), that was their easiest series. But from there Žalgiris once again started to dominate, they've won 2 titles in a row (2007, 2008). In 2008–2009 Lietuvos Rytas won the league, beating Žalgiris 4-1 in the finals. The winners were led by Chuck Eidson, Arturas Jomantas and Marijonas Petravicius. In 2009-10 season Lietuvos Rytas first time won back to back titles beating Zalgiris 4-3 in finals series.

LKL teams

Club	Winners	Winning Years
BC Žalgiris	13	1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011
BC Lietuvos Rytas	5	2000, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010

Champions by seasons

• 1993/94: Žalgiris
• 1994/95: Žalgiris
• 1995/96: Žalgiris
• 1996/97: Žalgiris
• 1997/98: Žalgiris
• 1998/99: Žalgiris
• 1999/00: Lietuvos Rytas
• 2000/01: Žalgiris
• 2001/02: Lietuvos Rytas
• 2002/03: Žalgiris
• 2003/04: Žalgiris
• 2004/05: Žalgiris
• 2005/06: Lietuvos Rytas
• 2006/07: Žalgiris
• 2007/08: Žalgiris
• 2008/09: Lietuvos Rytas
• 2009/10: Lietuvos Rytas
• 2010/11: Žalgiris

External links

• Official LKL website
• Official LKL YouTube.com channel