Electronic office
Latest news
From left to right: Uribes, Alegria, Aguilar and Martín

The U League is born: Spanish sport joins for the future of basketball

  • The Ministry of Education, Professional Training and Sports, the Higher Sports Council (CSD), the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) and the Association of Basketball Clubs (acb) join forces and create an U-22 league for the formation of the next generation of Spanish basketball.

  • The Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría, assured that “this competition is an opportunity for many young people to continue training, without giving up anything, and dreaming without limits”.

  • The Higher Sports Council (CSD) will contribute 15 million euros in three years to the implementation of the U League, which will offer players the opportunity to combine competition with their training.

 

Madrid, June 18, 2025.- The Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB) and the Association of Basketball Clubs (acb), with the support of the Ministry of Education, Professional Training and Sports and the Higher Sports Council (CSD), have announced the creation of the U League, an under-22 league designed for the integral training of the next generation of Spanish basketball.

As announced this Wednesday in an event held in the Samaranch Room of the CSD, the U League was born with the objective of facilitating and enhancing academic life with sports training at the highest level. For the first time, thanks to the support of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports and the CSD, which will provide 5 million euros in each of the first three seasons of this competition, players will have guidance and scholarships that will allow them to combine their university studies or VET with a demanding competition according to their sports needs.

The U League will begin in the 2025-26 season and will feature the U22 teams (players born in 2004 or later) of the acb clubs, playing mainly on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. The acb and the FEB will later announce the participating teams, their competition format and calendar.

 

“A transformative project”

The Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría, has assured during the closing of the U League that this “project is transformative”.

“It is a bridge that unites sport and training, with the aim of supporting our athletes both on and off the courts. In addition, it was born by the promotion of the two key entities of our basketball, acb and FEB, and has the support of the Government of Spain, confirming its vocation of permanence in the medium and long term,” he said.

Minister Pilar Alegría also pointed out that, “thanks to this project, athletes will be able to train, compete, train and, above all, continue dreaming”. “With this we send a message: in Spain, talent is supported and taken care of,” he said.

For her part, the president of the Spanish Basketball Federation (FEB), Elisa Aguilar, has remarked on the importance of “protecting” the future of Spanish players, to whom the U League will provide “an ecosystem in which to develop”.

“This project is an armor, born from the agreement of all the main actors in our sport, and that responds to a common need – and the same concern – that had us all very busy.This is an important initiative, which allows our young athletes to continue training while playing at the highest level, to live a university experience that completes their education, and allows them to develop a dual career in parallel with the sport,” he said.

“I am sure that, in many years’ time, we will be able to identify this project as one of the keys that will be behind the maintenance of Spain at the top of the competitive pyramid of world basketball,” he added.

The president of the Basketball Clubs Association (acb), Antonio Martín, said that the U League “would not be possible without the work of our clubs” and added: “I have an infinite sense of gratitude and, at the same time, peace of mind, because the project is in the best hands. This challenge is historic and will be an example for other countries, which are going to adopt similar models, because it unites sport and training.”

“With this project we give all possible tools so that athletes can follow their lives when the sports stage is over. This would not be possible without the enormous work that our clubs do in their quarries and their involvement to support this project,” he said.

In this sense, the president of the CSD, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, said, on this day “of joy and enthusiasm for the arrival of this magnificent project”, that the U League “covers a need in Spanish basketball”. “This bet unites sport and training and will be very important for the Spanish sport,” he said.

 

Images available for editorial use in: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCitXP