Basketball in England
| Basketball in England | |
|---|---|
| Country | England |
| Governing body | Basketball England |
| National teams | Men's national team; Women's national team |
| Representative team | Great Britain men's national basketball team |
| National competitions | |
Basketball has a very long history in England, being introduced there by YMCA almost immediately after it was invented (having been created by the Canadian Dr. James Naismith in 1891 in Massachusetts). World Wars I and II further spurred its popularity.
The three highest profile team sports in England are football, cricket and rugby. Basketball belongs to the next tier alongside ice hockey and netball; like these sports, it has a significant and dedicated following, a professional league, but attracts little coverage from the major British media outlets and suffers from lack of "crossover" appeal. While England is the birthplace of the three main sports, and English sides are major powers in each of them, basketball is essentially an "import" from North America, and English/British teams have not generally been successful in them internationally, which also affects their profile.
The first tier is the Super League Basketball (SLB) which replaced the British Basketball League (BBL) in 2024. The league operates in a franchise system which means there is no automatic promotion or relegation with the tiers below. The second tier is the British Championship Basketball (BCB) which was founded in 2025. National Basketball League (NBL) serves between the third and fifth tier in line with the Scottish Basketball Championship (SBC) and Basketball Wales National League (BWNL).