nbL

Welcome to the NBL, a national competition structure for hundreds of senior and junior teams across the country.

We are excited to announce that team entries for the 2025/26 NBL season are now open. 

To find out more about the new season, including important information about team entries and our new platform, PlayHQ, please read the information on the page below.

The following sections are all covered, for reference:

• Team entry dates
• Team entry costs
• Club affiliation fees
• NBL Rules and Regulations 2025/26
• General entry information
• Team name information
• PlayHQ info and guidance
• Member licensing

Team Entry Dates 

Open – Monday 19 May 2025 

Close – Wednesday 11 June 2025 23:59 

Important: Entries must be submitted before the deadline. The system will close automatically at the deadline – late entries will not be accepted. 

Team Entry Costs 

You will be invoiced via PlayHQ in mid-June for your total entry fees and any applicable surety fees. Payment is not required at the time of entry. 

Club Affiliation Fee 

You will be billed via PlayHQ during the summer for club affiliation. 

NBL Rules and Regulations 2025/26 

The NBL Rules and Regulations for next season are available here. 

Before the team entry process begins, you are required to familiarise yourself with the NBL Rules and Regulations.  

All teams must review and confirm they understand these before submitting entries. By entering, you agree to abide by these rules and regulations. 

Entry Information 

As part of the team entry process, you will be required to provide information about your entry. To prepare for this, please see attached the questions you will be asked. If entering multiple teams, we recommend preparing your responses offline and copying them into PlayHQ during the entry process. 

The fixture secretary you list on your team entry will be the key contact listed in the Handbook. It is also the contact we will use to communicate with you regarding league structures, fixtures and any other important information.  

Where a team is based outside of England, that team is required to notify their Home Country Association before entering Basketball England’s competition. Provided that the application for affiliation to Basketball England is endorsed and approved by the Club’s Home Country Association, a club can enter teams in Basketball England’s competitions. 

Team Names 

As part of the new system, all teams are required to have a unique name. When entering your team, you must follow the team naming convention prescribed.  

• For senior teams, after the team’s name e.g. London Giants, you need to add (NBL) for a men’s team or (WNBL) for a women’s team.  
• For junior teams after the team’s name, you need to add the age group and gender e.g. London Giants (U16G) or London Giants (U18M). 
• If you are entering multiple teams, you would follow the same process but add to your team’s name e.g. London Giants I (NBL), London Giants II (NBL). 

The table below summarises the naming conventions required:

PlayHQ 

You will shortly receive an email from PlayHQ inviting you to join the NBL. Once accepted, you will be able to complete your team entries. 

Note: If you have not yet accepted your admin invite, you will not receive this email. If you have not yet attended a PlayHQ training session, you must do this before you are assigned administrator access. You can book a session here. If you have attended already but would like a refresher, you can also book on using this link. 

There is a help guide available on the PlayHQ which guides you through each step of the process. You can access this here. 

You are required to complete one entry per team you wish to enter. For example, if you want to enter U14 Boys Conference, U16 Girls Premier and NBL Conference League Men you would need to complete the team entry process three times.  

Once you have clicked on the tile showing the current season, you will be taken to a page titled ‘Grades’ where you will see a list of the available competitions.  

For the junior age groups please ensure you select the appropriate level you are eligible to play in: premier, conference or regional.  

For Division 2 Women and NBL Conference League there is only one option to enter; these leagues will be structures after entries close.  

All other senior leagues you can enter the division/pool you are entitled to enter. 

Please note, the grade your team enters may not be the grade that the team competes in. Basketball England will structure the leagues after the entries close. 

Other PlayHQ help guides: 

• Accept admin invite 

• Set up your club 

• Add club contacts 

• Set up Payment details 

• Add administrators Please ensure that access is only given to those who require it. All administrators must agree to and follow the PlayHQ Terms of Use. 

Member Licensing 

Licensing for individual members will open in early July. More information will be communicated about this in due course.  

We know moving to a new platform can be a daunting experience, but we will be offering multiple training sessions throughout your onboarding so once team entries are complete you will receive more information on training sessions to help clubs set up registrations and the Basketball England membership process. In the lead up to the start of the NBL season we will run additional training on game day tasks such as scoring and player line-ups. 

Contact us

If you have any questions or need further support, please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you have a specific PlayHQ question, please complete the enquiry form here - https://www.basketballengland.co.uk/about/contact-us/.

We will be unable to answer PlayHQ questions over the phone.