Overseas basketball leagues

I have played professionally for three years, only in France but I have gained a pretty deep understanding of the hierarchy of professional basketball in Europe. I'm going to rank the leagues in order by the level of play and the average money that the players make.

QUALITY LEAGUES

These leagues play at a high level pretty much from the top to the bottom, the best teams have a lot of money, but well established players could be paid anything up to and beyond $100,000 for a season at almost any team in any of these leagues. The ranking is by the level of play and the money available. Anyone with knowledge about basketball in Europe will agree that this ranking is about right, although they may say I have the odd league a place too high or a place too low.

1	Spain ACB	This is where everyone wants to play. The competition is great, the money is great and reliable and the people love basketball
2	Italy Serie A	A very high level of competition. The problem with Italy is that the teams can be unreliable. A lot of people have left without getting all of their money and being paid late is common. If you get hurt, you are not guaranteed that you will get all your money or that the team will take care of you. Depends on the team and your status on the team
3	France Pro A	A very good level of competition from the top down. The best thing about France is that you will always get your money and it will always be on time. Even if you get hurt the first week of the season and don't play a single game you will get every cent of your contract.
4	Germany Bundesliga	Good competition and reliable money. Not quite as secure as France in terms of getting paid on time, and getting paid if you are hurt.
5	Spain LEB	Some people would put this league above France and Germany. Spain's second division and still a very high level, very good money and a great place to play.
6	Greece A1	Used to be Europe's number one league, Greece is on the decline because of unreliability. You can sign for a lot of money but only see half of it, or even less. A team that pays every player every check on time is very unusual here. Greece still has three of the best teams in Europe.
7	Italy Serie B	Italy's second division. Still a high level and still good money. Also can be unreliable.
8	Belgium D1	A nice place to play where English speaking is widespread. The level of play is solid and the security of your money is on a level with France. It's a small country so you won't be faced with any long road trips.
9	France Pro B	A league with very reliable pay and a good level of competition.

LOWER LEVEL LEAGUES

These leagues are well organized and have some enthusiastic fans, but not a whole lot of money. With a few exceptions (top 2 teams in each league) most you can hope to get paid is around $50,000 and in most cases $20,000 - $30,000 is the maximum. A lot of players start their professional careers here, and with success move up to a stronger league.

DENMARK	FRANCE D3
SWEDEN	HOLLAND
AUSTRIA	PORTUGAL
CZECH REP.	FINLAND
CYPRUS	HUNGARY
NORWAY	SWITZERLAND
ENGLAND	IRELAND

Also in this category are:

France Division 3 - National 1

Germany Division 2 - Bundesliga 2

Spain Division 3 - LEB 2

France Division 3 - B1

TOP HEAVY LEAGUES

These countries all have one, two or three power-house teams that play at a very high level, and have a lot of money. Below those franchises area lot of unreliable lower level teams.

These tend to be less developed countries where if you are on one of the major teams, you will be very well taken care off but under a lot of pressure to perform. If you are on one of the lesser teams you might find life to be less than comfortable, and you might struggle to get all your money, and to get it on time.

RUSSIA	YUGOSLAVIA
ISRAEL	POLAND
LITHUANIA	TURKEY

chris@playerexposure.com