Liga Asobal is the premier professional handball league in Spain. It was founded in 1958 with the name of División de Honor, changing its name to the current name in 1990. The Liga ASOBAL, which is played under EHF rules, currently consists of 16 teams, including famous ones like FC Barcelona, Ademar León, Bidasoa and Granollers.

Liga ASOBAL
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2024–25 Liga ASOBAL
SportHandball
Founded1990; 34 years ago (1990)
No. of teams16
CountrySpain
ConfederationEHF
Most recent
champion(s)
FC Barcelona (31st title)
(2023–24)
Most titlesFC Barcelona (31 titles)
TV partner(s)GOL PLAY
LaLiga
Relegation toDivisión de Plata
Domestic cup(s)Copa del Rey
Copa ASOBAL
Iberian Supercup
International cup(s)EHF Champions League
EHF European League
Official websiteasobal.es

Famous handball players who have played in the league include Jackson Richardson, Talant Dujshebaev, Staffan Olsson, Mikhail Yakimovich, Ólafur Stefánsson, Oleg Kisselev, Alberto Urdiales, Mateo Garralda, Enric Masip, Iñaki Urdangarin, David Barrufet, Kristian Kjelling, Mikkel Hansen, Petar Metličić, Ivano Balić, Juanín García, Mats Olsson, David Davis, László Nagy, Raúl Entrerríos, Alberto Entrerríos, and many others.

History

edit
  • The "División de Honor" Handball championship was created in 1958 and was managed by the Spanish Handball Federation (FEBM) until 1990. ASOBAL (Handball Clubs Association) was formed in 1984.[1] In 1990, ASOBAL took control of the División de Honor and renamed it Liga ASOBAL.[2][3]
  • FC Barcelona have won every championship since 2011, in part due to the disbandment of previous top clubs Ciudad Real and Portland San Antonio.
  • The 13-time champions Granollers have not won the title since the 1973–74 season.

Championship rules

edit

Each team of every division has to play with all the other teams of its division twice, once at home and the other at the opponent's stadium. This means that in Liga ASOBAL the league ends after every team plays 30 matches.

Like many other leagues in continental Europe, the Liga ASOBAL takes a winter break once each team has played half its schedule. One unusual feature of the league is that the two halves of the season are played in the same order—that is, the order of each team's first-half fixtures is repeated in the second half of the season, with the only difference being the stadiums used.

Each victory adds 2 points to the team in the league ranking. Each drawn adds 1 point.head-to-head. At the end of the league, the winner is:

  1. The team that has most points in the ranking.
  2. If two or more teams are level on points, the winner is the team that has the best results
  3. If there is no winner after applying the second rule, then the team with the best overall goal difference wins.

2022-23 season teams

edit
 
 
FC Barcelona
 
Ademar León
 
Granollers
 
Logroño La Rioja
 
Cuenca
 
Bada Huesca
 
Bidasoa
 
Puente Genil
 
Valladolid
 
Helvetia Anaitasuna
 
Benidorm
 
Guadalajara
 
Santander
 
Cangas
 
Torrelavega
 
Cisne
2022–23 Liga Asobal teams
Team City Venue Capacity
FC Barcelona Barcelona Palau Blaugrana 7,234
Bidasoa Irún Irún Polideportivo Artaleku 2,500
BM Logroño La Rioja Logroño Palacio de los Deportes de La Rioja 3,809
Fraikin BM Granollers Granollers Palau d'Esports de Granollers 6,000
Bada Huesca Huesca Palacio Municipal de Huesca 4,900
Incarlopsa Cuenca Cuenca Pabellón Municipal El Sargal 1,800
ABANCA Ademar León León Pabellón Municipal de los Deportes 6,000
Ángel Ximénez Puerto Genil Puente Genil Pabellón Municipal Alcalde Miguel Salas 900
Recoletas Atlético Valladolid Valladolid Polideportivo Huerta del Rey 3,550
Helvetia Anaitasuna Pamplona Pabellón Anaitasuna 3,000
BM Benidorm Benidorm Palau d'Esports L'Illa de Benidorm 3,000
AD Ciudad de Guadalajara Guadalajara Palacio Multiusos de Guadalajara 5,894
Balonmano Sinfín Santander Pabellón La Alberica 2,300
Frigoríficos Morrazo Cangas do Morrazo Pabellón Municipal de O Gatañal 2,500
Bathco BM Torrelavega Torrelavega Pabellón Municipal Vicente Trueba 2,400
BM Cisne Pontevedra Estadio da Xuventude 4,000

Champions by year

edit

Primera División champions

edit
Year Team
1952 Atlético Madrid
1953 Real Madrid
1954 Atlético Madrid
1955 Sabadell
1956 Granollers
1957 Granollers
1958 Granollers

División de Honor champions

edit

Liga ASOBAL champions

edit

Performance by club

edit
Club Titles ASOBAL Seasons
FC Barcelona
31
23
1968–69, 1972–73, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89,
1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99,
1999–00, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14,
2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21,
2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
BM Granollers
13
0
1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1965–66,
1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1973–74
Atlético Madrid
11
0
1951–52, 1953–54, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1978–79,
1980–81, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85
Ciudad Real
5
5
2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10
Calpisa Alicante
4
0
1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78
Teka Cantabria
2
2
1992–93, 1993–94
Bidasoa
2
1
1986–87, 1994–95
San Antonio
2
2
2001–02, 2004–05
Ademar León
1
1
2000–01
Real Madrid
1
0
1952–53
Sabadell
1
0
1954–55

All-time Liga ASOBAL table

edit
Pos Team Seasons Played Won Drawn Lost G.F. G.A. G.D. Points
1 FC Barcelona 28 834 739 24 71 26549 20208 6341 1502
2 ABANCA Ademar León 24 719 466 76 177 21009 18777 2232 1007
3 Fraikin Granollers 28 825 398 89 338 22188 21681 507 887
4 BM Valladolid 23 672 363 67 242 19077 18242 835 790
5 Ciudad Real 19 560 367 40 153 16084 14363 1721 774
6 Portland San Antonio 20 602 357 59 186 16496 15486 1010 773
7 Teka Cantabria 18 529 280 40 209 13928 13537 391 600
8 Bidasoa Irún 20 591 261 69 261 14788 14898 −110 591
9 Teucro 17 497 177 63 257 12797 13581 −784 417
10 Logroño La Rioja 12 358 191 34 132 10413 9959 454 416
11 Liberbank Cuenca 15 452 162 58 232 11608 12327 −719 382
12 Frigoríficos del Morrazo 18 539 158 61 320 13376 14835 −1459 377
13 Gáldar 12 334 147 49 138 9123 9106 17 343
14 Academia Octavio 13 386 123 43 220 10349 11090 −741 289
15 Altea 9 270 97 30 143 6899 7252 −353 224
16 Arrate 11 331 89 24 208 8317 9132 −815 212
17 Helvetia Anaitasuna 7 208 91 28 89 5640 5757 −117 210
18 BM Aragón 10 300 145 23 131 8753 8734 19 202
19 Huesca 7 208 88 26 94 5587 5783 −196 202
20 Torrevieja 9 270 81 25 163 7123 7711 −588 187
21 Quabit Guadalajara 8 208 77 27 134 6409 6842 −433 181
22 Avidesa Alzira 5 146 77 10 59 3741 3667 74 164
23 Fertiberia Puerto Sagunto 8 238 68 26 144 6318 6956 −638 163
24 Antequera 6 180 59 19 102 4798 5106 −308 135
25 Vamasa Valencia 8 234 58 17 159 6032 6884 −852 133
26 Atlético Madrid BM 4 118 59 10 49 2630 2561 69 128
27 Puleva Maristas 5 141 54 14 73 3614 3668 −54 122
28 Villa de Aranda 5 148 48 27 77 4047 4268 −221 119
29 Ángel Ximénez P.G. 5 148 46 18 84 3878 4150 −272 110
30 BM Atlético Madrid 2 60 52 2 6 1963 1562 401 106
31 Keymare Almería 7 210 47 12 151 5341 6113 −772 106
32 Juventud Alcalá 4 118 45 13 60 2796 2901 −105 103
33 Benidorm 4 118 43 16 59 3049 3220 −171 102
34 Alcobendas 6 180 39 15 126 4587 5180 −593 93
35 Barakaldo 6 186 33 22 131 4622 5444 −822 88
36 Guadalajara 4 119 33 18 68 2685 2973 −288 84
37 Redcom Airtel Chapela 4 110 29 11 70 2442 2806 −364 69
38 Alicante 3 92 28 11 53 2084 2211 −127 67
39 Algeciras 3 90 26 12 52 2475 2753 −278 64
40 Recoletas Atl. Valladolid 2 60 27 2 31 1682 1676 6 56
41 Naranco 3 92 16 5 71 1936 2255 −319 37
42 GoFit Sinfín 2 58 14 4 40 1525 1698 −173 32
43 MMT Seguros Zamora 2 60 13 6 41 1499 1734 −235 32
44 Juanfersa Grupo Fegar 2 60 14 3 43 1448 1649 −201 31
45 Toledo 2 60 12 5 43 1631 1859 −228 29
46 Cajamadrid 1 32 13 3 16 756 766 −10 28
47 Garbel Zaragoza 2 52 9 4 39 1231 1437 −206 22
48 Tres de Mayo 1 29 10 2 17 690 751 −61 22
49 Puerto Cruz 1 29 10 1 18 629 710 81 21
50 Michelin Valladolid 1 29 8 2 19 646 727 −81 21
51 PRASA Pozoblanco 1 30 6 6 18 770 852 −82 18
52 ARS Palma del Río 1 30 5 2 23 744 866 −122 12
53 Huétor Tájar 1 30 3 6 21 749 874 −125 12
  • Updated at completion of 2017–18 season.

League or status at 2018–19 season:

Liga ASOBAL
División de Plata
1ª Nacional
2ª Nacional
Club disbanded

Statistics

edit

EHF coefficients

edit

The following data indicates Spanish coefficient rankings between European handball leagues.

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Data" (PDF). hemeroteca-paginas.elmundodeportivo.es. 1984.
  2. ^ "Data" (PDF). hemeroteca-paginas.elmundodeportivo.es. 1990.
  3. ^ "Data" (PDF). hemeroteca-paginas.elmundodeportivo.es. 1990.
  4. ^ [1] (PDF). European Handball Federation.
  5. ^ "Club coefficients". eurotopteam.com. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
edit