Armée Patriotique Rwandaise Basketball Club, commonly known simply as APR, is a Rwandan

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 (appro ...

club based in

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

. Owned and funded by the Ministry of Defence of Rwanda, the team plays in the

Rwanda Basketball League The Rwanda Basketball League (RBL) (formerly the National Basketball League Rwanda) is the top professional basketball league in Rwanda. Its season usually runs from November to September. The winners of the NBL season qualify for the BAL Qualif ...

(RBL) and in the

Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is the premier men's basketball league in Africa. Founded in 2019, the league was established and is co-organized by NBA Africa and the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Each season typically r ...

(BAL) for the 2024 season. Nicknamed the "Lions", the team is the most decorated team in the country, as APR has won a record 15 national championships.

History

Originating during the

Rwandan Patriotic Front The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi; , FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. The RPF was founded in December 1987 by Rwandan Tutsi in exile in Uganda because of the ethnic violence that had occurred during the Rwandan Hutu Revo ...

(RPF)'s liberation struggle during the

Rwandan Civil War The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war arose ...

in 1993, the club was established to serve as a means to engage and occupy soldiers during a ceasefire amid the peace talks that eventually led to the signing of the

Arusha Accords Arusha Accords refers to two separate political agreements, negotiated in Arusha Arusha is a city in Tanzania. The city is the Capital city, capital of the Arusha Region. It has a population of 617,631 people.

. Alongside the basketball team, the RPF introduced teams in volleyball and football, which continue to operate successfully. From 1995 to 2003, APR won nine consecutive national championships. The Lions were taken over by Kenya-born head coach Cliff Uwuor in 2005. They won the FIBA Africa Zone 5 Club Championship in 2008, and won league titles in 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. In 2008, APR became the first team in league history to finish the regular season unbeaten. Its succeses were partly due to APR's high-quality foreign players, mainly from the DR Congo. After its thirteenth championship in 2009, the team went a decade without notable performances. The club opted to play with homegrown players in these years, a decision that coach Uwuor named as a reason for less titles in these years. In the 2023 offseason, the Lions acquired national team player Axel Mpoyo, Jean Jacques Nshobozwabyosenumukiza and Ntore Habimana, among others. APR eventually ended its 13-year long title drought before by winning another title in the

2023 RBL season The 2023 RBL season was the second season of the Rwanda Basketball League under its current name, while the top-level competition has been organised by the FERWABA for a longer time. The season began on 12 January 2023 with the regular season. T ...

, under head coach Maz Trakh. APR made its BAL debut in the 2024 season, receiving direct qualification to the main tournament as Rwandan champion. The Lions were allocated in the

Sahara Conference The Sahara Conference is one of the three Athletic conference, conferences that make up the Basketball Africa League (BAL), the other two being the Nile Conference and the Kalahari Conference. All conferences currently consist of four teams. The ...

, but disappointingly finished in the fourth place in the group, becoming the first Rwandan team in league history to miss out on the playoffs. In August, they won the inaugural Rwanda Cup title. APR also won the 2024 league title.

Honours

National

National Basketball League *Champions (15): 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

**''Runners-up (2):'' 2013, 2014 Rwanda Cup * Winners (1):

Rwandan Heroes Cup The Heroes' Cup, also known as the Heroes' Day Tournament, is an annual basketball cup competition for the premier teams in Rwanda. The Heroes Cup tournaments are organised by their respective federations in partnership with the Chancellery for ...

*''Runners-up (1):'' 2020 Genocide Memorial Tournament * Winners (1): 2024

International

FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup The FIBA Africa Basketball League (formerly named the FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup) was the highest caliber men's professional basketball competition for clubs until 2020, organized by the FIBA Africa and played by the champions of the league ...

*Third place:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

FIBA Africa Zone 5 Club Championship * Winners (3): 2002, 2007, 2008

Friendly

Legacy Basketball Tournament * Winners (1): 2024

In FIBA and BAL competitions

(3 appearances) ::

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

– 6th Place ::

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

– 8th Place ::

– Third place

(BAL) (1 appearance) ::

– ''To be determined''

Season by season

Players

Current roster

Notable players

* Wilson Nshobozwabyosenumukiza * Elie Kaje * Cedric Isom * Ntore Habimana *

Ulrich Chomche Ulrich Kamka Chomche (born 30 December 2005) is a Cameroonian professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with Raptors 905 of the NBA G League. At 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), ...

* Kami Kabange *

Darko Balaban Darko Balaban ( sr-cyr, Дарко Балабан; born 22 September 1989) is a Serbian professional basketball player. Professional career Balaban grew up with KK Sport Key from Novi Sad where he played from 2003 to 2007 when he goes to Partiz ...

* Tom Wamukota

Head coaches

The following people have been head coaches of APR: * Cliff Uwuor: (2005–2023) * Maz Trakh: (2023–2024) * James Maye Jr.: (2024–present)

Women's team

APR WBBC is the club's women's team plays in the Rwanda Women's Basketball League and have represented the country in the 2022 FIBA Africa Women's Champions Cup.

References

External links

APR Basketball Club
at Eurobasket.com
Official APR BBC site
{{Basketball Africa League Basketball teams in Rwanda Basketball teams established in 1993 1993 establishments in Rwanda