Fadi El Khatib ( ar, فادي الخطيب; born January 1, 1979), nicknamed "the Lebanese Tiger", is a Lebanese professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who plays in the

Lebanese Basketball League The Lebanese Basketball League is the top-tier professional men's basketball league in Lebanon. It is organized annually as a national championship with playoffs and a national cup by the Lebanese Basketball Federation (FLB). Currently, the leagu ...

for

Sagesse ''Sagesse'' (literal trans. "Wisdom") is a volume of French poetry by Paul Verlaine. First published in 1881 (see 1880), it was important in the symbolist and modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that ...

. El Khatib played for several teams in the Lebanese Basketball League, and also played abroad in Syria, Ukraine and China. He was also a member of the Lebanon national team that finished runners-up in the

FIBA Asia Championship The FIBA Asia Cup (formerly the FIBA Asia Championship and ABC Championship) is an international basketball tournament which takes place every four years between the men's national teams of Asia and Oceania. Through the 2015 edition, the tourna ...

three times, in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

. El Khatib also participated in the

FIBA World Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Professional career

El Khatib began playing professionally in 1997, aged 17, at

, staying with them until 2004. He then moved for one year to

Al-Ittihad Aleppo Al-Ittihad Sports Club of Aleppo ( ar, نادي الاتحاد الرياضي الحلبي) is a professional multi-sports club based in the Syrian city of Aleppo, mostly known for its football team which competes in the Syrian Premier League ...

in Syria, before moving back to Sagesse in 2006. With Sagesse, El Khatib won seven

titles, two Arab Club titles, and three FIBA Asia Champions Cup titles. Throughout his career, El Khatib also played for other

teams such as Al Riyadi Beirut, Champville, Amchit, and

Homenetmen Beirut Homenetmen Beirut may refer to: *Homenetmen Beirut (basketball) Homenetmen Beirut ( ar, نادي الهومنتمن; ), or simply Homenetmen, is the basketball department of Homenetmen, a Lebanese-Armenian multi-sports club based in Beirut, Le ...

. Between 2015 and 2017, he played in China for Foshan Long Lions and

Fujian Sturgeons Fujian SBS Xunxing Sturgeons (Simplified Chinese: 福建SBS浔兴鲟) or Fujian Xunxing or Fujian SBS are a Chinese professional men's basketball team in the Chinese Basketball Association, based in Jinjiang, Quanzhou, Fujian. The "SBS" reflects c ...

. El Khatib then returned to Champville in 2017, playing there until his retirement in 2020. In August 2022, El Khatib announced his return to Sagesse Club in a big announcement held in Hotel Le Gabriel Achrafieh in which attended his former coach Ghassan Sarkis and former teammate Elie Mechantaf.

National team career

In 1999, El Khatib made his debut for the Lebanon national team at the

1999 ABC Championship The 1999 Asian Basketball Confederation Championship for Men was the qualifying tournament for the Basketball Tournament at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. It was played in Fukuoka, Japan. Qualification According to the ABC rul ...

; Lebanon reached the quarter-finals and finished in seventh place. At the 2001 ABC Championship, El Khatib led Lebanon to a second-place finish; he was named to the 2001 FIBA Asia All-Star Five. With the runners-up finish, Lebanon qualified to the

2002 FIBA World Championship The 2002 FIBA World Championship was the 14th edition of the competition now known as the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the international world championship for men's basketball teams. The tournament held by the International Basketball Federation i ...

; despite Lebanon losing in the first round, El Khatib finished the tournament among the top ten scorers, with an average of 17.6 points per game. At the 2005 FIBA Asia Championship, El Khatib averaged 23.0 points per game, and helped Lebanon to reach the final; once again, Lebanon qualified to the

2006 FIBA World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised by ...

. He scored 35 points in the opener against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, and 29 in a 74–73 win against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Despite the two wins, Lebanon fell short of qualifying to the round of 16. El Khatib led Lebanon to a third runners-up finish at the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship; he averaged 28.4 points per game throughout the tournament, but lost to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

74–69 in the final. El Khatib eventually participated with Lebanon at the Asia Championship in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

and at the World Championship in

. He would not participate for Lebanon until 2017, playing his last national-team games at the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup.

Personal life

In July 2020, El Khatib obtained Turkish citizenship by investment in the country. His son, Jihad El Khatib, joined Turkish club Fenerbahçe in October 2020.

Awards and honours

Domestic club * 11x

champion: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2016 * 8x Lebanese Basketball Cup champion: 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 * 3x

Best Domestic Player: 2006, 2009, 2010 * 4x

All Tournament Team: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010 * 4x

Player of the year: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 *

Forward of the year: 2007 *

scoring leader: 2010 *

Syrian Basketball League The Syrian Basketball League ( ar, الدوري السوري لكرة السلة) is the top-tier professional men's basketball league in Syria. It is organized annually as a national championship with playoffs and a national cup by the Syrian B ...

regular season champion: 2005 International club * 4x FIBA Asia Champions Cup champion:

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

* 2x FIBA Asia Champions Cup MVP: 2005, 2011 * 2x FIBA Asia Champions Cup All-Star Team: 2005, 2011 * 3x

Arab Club Basketball Championship The Arab Club Championship is an annual basketball tournament for Arab teams. The competition is organised by the Arab Basketball Confederation (ABC). Each season is typically held in October and is held in one venue. The tournament typically feat ...

champion: 1998, 1999, 2010 *

All-Star Team: 2010 *

Best Domestic Player: 2010 National team * 3x

Silver Medal winner:

* 2x

All-Star Team:

Best Forward:

FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup The FIBA Asia Challenge, previously known as the FIBA Asia Stanković Cup between 2004 and 2010 and FIBA Asia Cup from 2012 to 2014, is a basketball tournament which takes place every two years between teams from Asia. History The second tourn ...

winner:

* 2x

WABA Championship The WABA Championship is an international basketball tournament which takes place every year between national men's teams from West Asia. The tournament is also known as the West Asian Basketball Championship. The tournament is organised by the ...

champion:

* West Asia MVP: 2001, 2002 * Efes Pilsen World Cup 9 Bronze Medal winner: 2010

References

External links

Player profile at www.InterBasket.net

Player profile at www.Asia-Basket.com
(subscription required)
Asian Legends series at FIBA.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khatib, Fadi 1979 births Living people People from Chouf District Lebanese men's basketball players Small forwards Sagesse SC basketball players BC Cherkaski Mavpy players Al Riyadi Club Beirut basketball players Guangzhou Loong Lions players Fujian Sturgeons players 2002 FIBA World Championship players 2006 FIBA World Championship players 2010 FIBA World Championship players Asian Games competitors for Lebanon Basketball players at the 2006 Asian Games Lebanese expatriate basketball people Lebanese expatriate sportspeople in Syria Lebanese expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Lebanese expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate basketball people in Syria Expatriate basketball people in Ukraine Expatriate basketball people in China Naturalized citizens of Turkey