Guide · Germany

How to play pro basketball in Germany

The easyCredit BBL, ProA and ProB are the three men's Bundesliga divisions. The Regionalliga is the class under them. This page is that ladder, the German-player and foreign-player rules the leagues and the federation have published, the 2026-27 dates they have actually printed, and where an American passport fits. It is for players outside Germany, including college players. It is not a tryout, and it is not a placement service.

The ladder, from the BBL down

Start with the division that matches your film. The three Bundesliga divisions are professional. None of them is an open tryout.

• easyCredit BBL (men). The top division. The 2026/27 Ausschreibung caps it at 18 clubs that hold a participation contract, and the league's own 2026-27 preview describes 18 teams. The Hauptrunde is matchdays 1 to 34, home and away. Our entry-friendliness estimate is 2/5. This is a job for players who already have a pro body of work.
• ProA (men). The second division, run by the 2. Basketball Bundesliga. The Spielordnung says ProA is in principle 18 teams, each playing the others home and away. The top eight reach the playoffs. Places 1 and 2 earn the sporting qualification for the next BBL. Entry-friendliness on our index: 3/5.
• ProB (men). The third division, in two groups, Nord and Süd. The Spielordnung says ProB is in principle 28 teams, 14 in each group, home and away inside the group. The league's 1 July 2026 schedule release says the 2026-27 ProB Süd field is 15 teams. Entry-friendliness on our index: 4/5. One non-EU spot per team is a scarce job, not a general tryout.
• Regionalliga (men). The DBB Spielordnung says this is the highest class below the Bundesliga, and that the state federations run it in four areas: Nord, West, Südwest and Südost. One team from each area that finishes in places 1 to 3 is eligible for ProB. The agreement between the league and the Regionalligen sets the rest, so this page does not invent which place promotes. Entry-friendliness on our index: 4/5.
• Outside that ladder. Toyota 1. DBBL is the women's top league. The 2. Damen-Basketball-Bundesliga is in the index as a competition we can confirm exists. The BBL, 2. Basketball Bundesliga and DBB documents cited here do not print a wage or an import number for those two, so this page does not supply one.

Each of those has its own page in the league explorer. The rules index puts leagues side by side, including BBL rules. The wider first-contract map, if Germany is one option among many, is where to get your first pro contract. easyCredit BBL Ausschreibung 2026/27 · 2. Basketball Bundesliga Spielordnung (PDF, as of 12 July 2026) · DBB Spielordnung (in force from June 2026)

Who counts as German, EU, or a foreign player

The three labels do different jobs. A passport that helps in ProB can still leave the BBL German minimum empty.

The BBL

The Spielordnung defines an Ausländer as a person who is not German under Article 116 of the Basic Law and is not a national of an EU member state. A club may use an unlimited number of Ausländer over the season. The limit for a single game is in the Ausschreibung, and that limit is a German minimum, not a cap written as "six imports." BBL Spielordnung §7 · Ausschreibung, roster and scoresheet

The season roster sheet (Mannschaftsmeldebogen) may list at most 20 names. German players under Article 116 are exempt from that maximum once they have the eligibility the Spielordnung describes. In each game a team may dress up to 12 players, and it has to take the floor with at least 10 who are able to play. The German minimum on that scoresheet for 2026/27 is:

• 10 players on the sheet: at least 4 players counting as German. At most one of those four may be a §7(3) Local Player. The others are citizens under Article 116.
• 11 players: at least 5 counting as German, and at most one of them may be a §7(3) Local Player.
• 12 players: at least 6 counting as German, and at most two of them may be §7(3) Local Players.

A §7(3) player is someone the Spielordnung calls a Local Player and treats as German. The test is time in the German game, or in another DOSB federation, before or through the youth age groups, plus further years at the club when you claim the status there. A season, for that test, runs from 1 August to 31 July and has to include at least six uninterrupted months of a playing right. Growing up in the United States and playing college basketball is not this test. Who a Local Player is (PDF)

Read that against a US passport. A US-only passport is an Ausländer. It fills one of the spots that sit outside the German minimum. An EU passport that is not also German is not an Ausländer under §7, and it still does not fill the German minimum. On a 12-man sheet the German minimum is six, so the other six spots are the ones a non-German passport can use. They are not reserved for Americans.

After Tuesday 15 September 2026 at 18:00, and through 31 March 2027, a club may add at most four more players, with the further case the Ausschreibung allows when a club has made fewer than four late additions by 28 February. Clubs that play in the cup round before the Hauptrunde file the first sheet by Wednesday 9 September 2026 at 18:00. The age cutoff the Ausschreibung sets for the §6 players is 1 January 2004 (U23) and younger. Deadlines and the U23 cutoff

ProA: two Germans on the floor

In every ProA game, at least two players on the floor have to be German under Article 116 at all times. If the team cannot keep two, it plays with four or fewer, and the coach is assessed a technical foul while the clock is running. Players the Spielordnung equalises with Article 116 can fill that floor, and the scoresheet caps how many of them a team may use: one if the sheet has up to 11 players, two if it has 12. The equalised status has its own youth-years and contract test. A college player who never held a German playing right does not pass it. ProA player-use rules (PDF)

That section does not publish a separate non-EU roster cap. A US passport can be on the floor beside the two Germans. It does not count as one of the two.

ProB: one non-EU player, and three Local Players on the floor

In ProB games, one player per team may be someone who is not a citizen of an EU member state and not a citizen of a state whose citizens have the same free-movement rights in Germany as EU citizens. Two groups sit outside that one-player limit: players who meet the Local Player test, and players from states that grant EU citizens equal treatment on working conditions under a state agreement. The Spielordnung does not name those states. A US passport is not an EU passport. Treat the one-player spot as the one that applies unless the league office has confirmed an exemption for your nationality in writing. ProB non-EU rule (PDF)

Separately, at least three Local Players have to be on the floor at all times. A Local Player meets the same kind of German youth test the ProA rule uses, or is a German citizen in the U23 age group. The U23 German counts even if the youth years were in another country. A US-only college player is not a Local Player, so that player does not help the three-player floor. The one non-EU spot and the three-Local-Player floor are both in force. ProB Local Player (PDF)

Regionalliga: one non-EU player per game

The DBB Spielordnung governs senior basketball outside the Bundesliga. In Regionalliga competitions, one non-EU citizen per team may play in a game. That player has to present a residence title under §4(1) of the Residence Act that was not issued under §6(1), or an asylum residence permission under §55(1) of the Asylum Act. §6(1) is the visa for a stay of up to 90 days. The one-player limit does not apply to a player who already held a playing right before turning 17, to a player granted free movement equal to EU citizens, to a professional covered by a state equal-treatment agreement who holds a residence title as a professional of that club, or to a player the federal office has recognised as a refugee or as having subsidiary protection. DBB Spielordnung §31a

In the men's 1. Regionalliga, each team also enters at least three Local Players on the scoresheet, and at least two Local Players have to be on the floor at all times. A Local Player there is someone who, during the U14 through U19 age groups, held a playing right in Germany for at least three years. A US college career is not those three years. DBB Spielordnung §31b

What a second passport does and does not do is path via passport. Write the passport you hold today. An application a parent might someday make is not a German player and not an EU citizen.

A realistic ladder for an American passport

Match the passport to the rule, then match the film to the division.

• US passport only, BBL. You use a non-German scoresheet spot. The clubs at this level already have pro film to choose from. Our estimate is 2/5. Treat a BBL offer out of college as the exception.
• US passport only, ProA. You can be on the floor beside two Germans. The Spielordnung does not add a one-import cap on top of that floor. The level is still a pro job, and our estimate is 3/5. Bring a body of work a ProA coach can check.
• US passport only, ProB. This is the published pro spot: one non-EU player per team, and you do not count toward the three Local Players on the floor. Our estimate is 4/5. One spot per club is the whole market for that passport.
• US passport only, Regionalliga. One non-EU player per game, plus the men's 1. Regionalliga floor of Local Players, plus a residence title that is not a short stay. Our estimate is 4/5. The DBB text does not publish a wage. A season here is film and a stat line. Confirm housing and pay in the contract, because the federation has not published them.
• An EU passport that is not German. It takes you out of the ProB and Regionalliga non-EU count, if the league accepts that nationality as EU or as equal free movement. It does not fill the BBL German minimum or the two Germans on a ProA floor.
• German citizenship under Article 116. You count toward the German minimum. In ProB, a German citizen in the U23 age group also counts as a Local Player even when the youth years were somewhere else. Citizenship you have not been granted is not this line.

The same ladder, as one option among many countries, is playing overseas after college. Japan and Australia run on other calendars. A German winter is not a second season you add after either of them.

What the leagues pay

There is no salary table in the documents this page cites. The BBL Ausschreibung and the 2. Basketball Bundesliga Spielordnung set club charges, fines and license conditions. They do not set a player salary, a team cap, or a minimum wage. This page leaves the paycheck blank on purpose.

A reported range from a placement company or a dated survey is stored, and labelled as not official, on the league pages and in the salary table. Use it only with that label. It is not repeated here as a league fact. First-year salaries is the page for entry-level ranges in other countries. Women's ranges, where a source exists, are on women's salaries.

Two sentences change how you read an offer.

• Housing, a car and flights are contract terms. The rules cited here do not promise them. If the item is not in the contract, it is not in the deal. Contract checklist →
• US tax is a separate return. US taxes on an overseas salary is that page. This page does not state a German income-tax rate.

Our index tags housing as "usually" included on these German leagues. That tag is an editorial estimate. It is not a clause in the Spielordnung.

The agent's commission is still a contract of its own. The 2. Basketball Bundesliga says a club may work only with an agent who holds a FIBA players' agent license and who has registered through the portal of the DBB, the BBL, the 2. Basketball Bundesliga and the NBBL. The cap on agent pay, under FIBA's regulations, is explained in agent fees. It is not a fee you wire before anyone offers. Who may act as an agent (PDF)

Season calendar

The season is a northern winter that runs into the spring. The leagues have said fixtures can still move. Plan off the dates they have published, and recheck the league site before you book a flight.

A letter in November is a replacement conversation, if a club has an open spot your passport can fill. It is not the start of the season. The roster window above is the BBL's. The 2. Basketball Bundesliga says the binding schedule is published at least six weeks before the competition, and its Spielordnung does not print one extra signing deadline for imports, so this page does not invent one.

The tryouts and camps calendar does not list an official BBL, ProA or ProB open tryout. If a camp sells "German league exposure," read when a tryout helps and the legit checklist before you pay.

The residence title, after a real offer

Paid basketball for a player who is not an EU citizen is work. The 2. Basketball Bundesliga will issue that player's license only with a residence title. EU citizens who have free movement equal to German citizens do not have to prove a residence title for the license. Everyone else has to show an employment contract as a basketball player, a residence title issued for that contract, and that basketball is the main occupation. The license lasts only as long as the residence title, and it ends if the title is withdrawn. Nationality and residence title (PDF)

The Regionalliga rule asks the non-EU player for a residence title, and a title issued under §6(1) does not qualify. The wider sequence, including why a 90-day visit is not a season, is the visa guide. We do not copy a government fee.

• The club is the employer on the license. The 2. Basketball Bundesliga asks for the employment contract with that club. There is no honest way to hold the residence title first and shop it to clubs.
• A short stay is not the season. The DBB text says so for the Regionalliga in so many words. The same red flag is on the visa guide for a Schengen visit.
• Do not wire a "visa fee" to a person. Any government charge belongs on the channel that country's official site names. An agent who invoices you for the visa, before or instead of a contract, is the problem described in agent fees.

A move from abroad also follows FIBA's international-transfer rules. The 2. Basketball Bundesliga says the DBB runs that procedure, and it cites FIBA Internal Regulations Book 3. A FIBA Letter of Clearance is the basketball transfer document. It is not the residence title. FIBA Internal Regulations Book 3 · Transfers from abroad (PDF)

How to get seen

Clubs fill the spots above with film and a contract, not with a form on this website. The order that matches the calendar:

1. Pick the tier your last season supports. A non-German spot on a BBL scoresheet is not a general tryout. ProA's two-German floor still assumes a pro roster. ProB's one non-EU spot is the realistic pro rung for a US-only passport, and it is one spot. If you are earlier than any offer, playing overseas after college is the wider page. Best countries is the comparison if Germany is only one idea.
2. Send the film package this site already describes. A short reel plus full games, in the form the highlight-reel guide sets, and a one-page player résumé with your real passport, your height in both units, and links that open with no login. Write the league you played. Write the passport you hold today. Leave "German eligible" off the sheet unless the passport or the youth years are already true.
3. Use an agent the league can register, or write to the club yourself. How to get an agent is the process. The agent directory includes agents from the DBB and BBL public registers. The 2. Basketball Bundesliga wants a FIBA players' agent license and a registration on the federation portal. Check the licence on FIBA's directory before the name goes on your résumé. A short email to a coach, with the résumé linked, is the direct version. It is not a guarantee anyone writes back.
4. Time it off the dates above. The 2026-27 season is already open. A full-season conversation for the following year waits on the next registration window. The BBL's late-addition window runs through 31 March 2027 and is still a club decision. The free Pro Pathway Starter Kit is the short PDF of the league hierarchy and the first two Playbook chapters if you want the wider map in one file.
5. Read the offer before you book the flight. Currency, gross or net, housing, US tax, the exit, and who files the residence title. Contract checklist → What you spend before anyone offers, including a flight you should keep refundable, is what it costs to play overseas.

What to ignore

• A guaranteed BBL contract, a guaranteed non-EU spot, or a camp that claims the league will attend because you paid.
• A salary quote that treats a club charge in the Ausschreibung as your pay. Those documents do not publish a player salary.
• Anyone who says a US passport counts as German, or that any EU passport fills the German minimum. Article 116 is German citizenship. The EU passport is a different label, and it matters in ProB and the Regionalliga.
• Anyone who says ProA and ProB use the same import rule. ProA publishes two Germans on the floor. ProB publishes one non-EU player per team, plus three Local Players on the floor.
• Anyone who says AAU or college years make you a Local Player. The tests are German playing rights in the youth age groups, or, in ProB, German citizenship and U23.
• A residence title arranged before the offer, or a plan to play the season on a short-stay visa. The visa guide is the line on that.
• An agent fee paid upfront to be "submitted to Germany." Once a real playing contract exists, the cap on agent pay is in agent fees. It is not a listing fee.

FAQ

How do you play pro basketball in Germany?

The men's ladder is the easyCredit BBL, then ProA, then ProB, then the Regionalliga. On a BBL scoresheet the German minimum is 4 of 10, 5 of 11, or 6 of 12. ProA requires two German players on the floor at all times. ProB allows one non-EU player per team, with the exemptions the league names, and three Local Players on the floor. There is no open tryout on this site. Clubs sign from film and an agent, after an offer.

How many foreign players can a German team sign?

Foreign is not one category. In the BBL, an Ausländer is someone who is neither German under Article 116 of the Basic Law nor a national of an EU member state. A club may use an unlimited number of those players over the season. Each game still has to meet the German minimum on the scoresheet, so a 12-man sheet leaves at most six spots that do not count toward that minimum. ProA's player-use section publishes the two-German floor and does not publish a non-EU roster cap. ProB publishes one non-EU player per team, unless that player is exempt. The Regionalliga publishes one non-EU player per team per game.

What is the difference between the BBL, ProA and ProB?

The BBL is the top division. The competition runs 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, with a home-and-away Hauptrunde of matchdays 1 to 34, then a play-in and best-of-five playoffs. The Ausschreibung caps the league at 18 clubs, and the league's 2026-27 preview describes 18 teams. ProA is in principle 18 teams, home and away, with the top eight in a best-of-five and a two-game final. ProB is in principle two groups of 14, home and away inside the group. For 2026-27 the league says ProB Süd has 15 teams. The first two of ProA earn the sporting qualification for the BBL. The first two of ProB move up to ProA.

How much do players in the German leagues make?

The easyCredit BBL Ausschreibung and the 2. Basketball Bundesliga Spielordnung do not publish a player salary, a salary cap, or a minimum wage. Euro amounts in those documents are club charges, not a paycheck. This page does not invent an import range and does not convert anything into US dollars. A reported range on the salary table is labelled as not official.

When is basketball season in Germany?

BBL games open on 18 September 2026. The league's FAQ puts the end of the Hauptrunde on 9 May 2027, the start of the play-ins on 11 May 2027, the playoffs on 15 May 2027, and the finals on 11 June 2027. ProA opens on 25 September 2026, and its last Hauptrunde matchday is set for 1 May 2027. ProB's Hauptrunde ends on 3 April 2027. Both leagues say fixtures can still move.

Do I need a visa to play basketball in Germany?

If you are not an EU citizen, the 2. Basketball Bundesliga issues a playing license only when you show a residence title tied to an employment contract as a basketball player, and basketball is your main occupation. The Regionalliga rule also requires a residence title, and it says the short-stay visa does not qualify. A season is longer than a 90-day visit. This is not legal advice. The government pages we can cite are on the visa guide.

Can a college player get a BBL contract?

A US college career does not make you a German player or a Local Player. The BBL German minimum sits on a roster clubs fill with players who already have a pro body of work. Our entry-friendliness estimate for the BBL is 2/5. The published spot for a US-only passport is the one non-EU place on a ProB team, or the one non-EU place in a Regionalliga game. Those are still one job per club. Our estimate for ProB is 4/5.