Força Lleida Club Esportiu, also known as Ilerna Lleida for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Lleida, Spain. It plays in the Liga ACB with its home games played at the Espai Fruita Barris Nord.
History The creation of a new club in Lleida
The club born in the summer of 2012 with the aim to substitute CE Lleida Bàsquet, which had several economic problems. Força Lleida took the vacant CE Lleida Bàsquet left in Primera FEB, the Spanish second tier division of basketball.El nuevo Força Lleida se presenta en sociedad; Solobasket.com, 12 July 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
The Primera FEB era
In its first season, Força Lleida qualified for the playoffs, after finalizing 7th in regular season, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals against Palencia Baloncesto. The next season, the team got the same number of victories than the past year (11), but this time just could get the 10th position.
In 2015 the club achieved its best performance after reaching the semifinals of the playoffs against Club Ourense Baloncesto, but just one season later, Força Lleida finished in the last position becoming relegated to LEB Plata. But a few months later, the club achieved a vacant berth in the same league from recently promoted FC Barcelona Bàsquet B, who decided to trade their 2nd tier vacant for Força Lleida's 3rd division vacant because of their politics of developing young talent. This meant Força Lleida avoided the descent and could play in Primera FEB the next season.
In 2017, despite the team finished the competition with more victories than lost games, they just could get the tenth position at the table, thus not qualifying for the postseason.
The promotion to Liga ACB
Força Lleida were granted promotion to Liga ACB, the first division of Spanish basketball following the 2023–24 season, after beating CB Lucentum Alicante, CB San Pablo Burgos and finally Movistar Estudiantes in the final of the promotion playoffs. They finished 2nd the regular season that year. Winning the promotion playoffs meant they were granted a license in Liga ACB. The 2024–25 season marked Lleida's debut season in the Spanish top level division, which they ended in the 15th position with 11 games won and 23 lost, thus avoiding relegation and staying up in the Spanish first division, Liga ACB for the 2025-26 season.
Currently, they are in Liga ACB and are a low table team and fight for permanence at the Spanish top level of basketball.
Sponsorship naming Actel Força Lleida (2014–2018) ICG Força Lleida (2018–2024) Hiopos Lleida (2024–2026) Ilerna Lleida (2026–now)
Logos
Season by season Season Tier Division Pos. Cup Competitions 2012–13 2 LEB Oro 7th 13–18 2013–14 2 LEB Oro 10th 11–15 2014–15 2 LEB Oro 5th 18–15 2015–16 2 LEB Oro16th 9–21 2016–17 2 LEB Oro 10th 18–16 2017–18 2 LEB Oro 16th 12–22 2018–19 2 LEB Oro 11th 16–18 2019–20 2 LEB Oro 15th 9–15 2020–21 2 LEB Oro 17th 12–14 2021–22 2 LEB Oro 4th 25–15 2022–23 2 LEB Oro 7th 23–15 2023–24 2 LEB Oro 2nd 31–8 2024–25 1 Liga ACB 15th 11–23 2025–26 1 Liga ACB 14th 12–22
Players
Current roster
Depth chart
Trophies and awards
Trophies Lliga Catalana LEB: (3) 2012, 2022, 2023
Notable players
Fran Guerra Javi Vega Oriol Paulí Pierre Oriola Rafa Villar Víctor Arteaga Juani Marcos Thomas Schreiner Michael Carey Leo Demetrio / Dee Bost / Melvin Ejim Nacho Varela Amadou Sidibé Luka Božić Esben Reinholt Eddy Polanco Kregor Hermet Alexander Madsen Kaspars Vecvagars Kristers Zoriks Osvaldas Matulionis Keye van der Vuurst Caleb Agada Mike Karena Diogo Brito Emmanuel Andújar Ibou Badji Edo Murić Luka Rupnik Kur Kuath Volodymyr Gerun Cameron Krutwig Corey Walden James Batemon John Shurna Kenny Hasbrouck Michael Carrera
Notes
References
External links Official website Hiopos Lleida at ACB.COM