Al Rayyan Basketball Team () is a

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

i 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 (appro ...

team based in Omm Alafai in the city of

Al-Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipalities of Qatar, municipality in Qatar. Its primary settlement is the Al Rayyan (city), city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and is a part of the Do ...

, Qatar. Al Rayyan is one of the most successful basketball clubs in Qatar, with many domestic and international titles to its name. It is part of the Al Rayyan Sports Club.

History

Beginnings (1979–1998)

Al Rayyan Basketball Team participated in the league after the establishment of the Qatar Basketball Federation (QBF) headed by Mr. Nasser Al-Mubarak Al-Ali in 1979. They had to play in outside courts paved with cement as Al-Rayyan Sports Club, or any club for that matter, did not have air-conditioned halls at that time, meaning that the surface area would be very dangerous to play on. At a time while basketball was first being introduced to Qatar, there were only four other clubs competing in the basketball league.Al Rayyan Basketball Team History
rayyanclub.com (in Arabic) A report published by QBF in 1982 stated the total number of basketball players in Al-Rayyan in 1970 was ''eight'', with that number gradually decreasing throughout the decade, until 1974, when it was ''three''. They were then coached by Sudanese Abdul Monem Salem. The game started to pick up in the early '80s after the formation of QBF. The playerbase increased, and South Korean coach Young-Suk was selected to bring the team glory. In the '80s, their team was one to be reckoned with, with the likes of Ahmed Mohammed Ali, the top scorer of the division in 1980–81, and Omar Mohammed, the top scorer of the youth division in the same year. Players were laid off in the mid-'80s, rendering the club ineligible to compete in the 1985–86 season. In 1988, the club had once again picked itself up again, with the juniors winning the 1988–89 and 1990–91 seasons. By 1992, the club had more than 95 players.

Golden era (1994–present)

The club was able to achieve its first league trophy in 1994 under the guidance of Colombian Coach Julio Salazar, being Assistant Coach Ahmed Abdul Hadi, Basketball Manager Rashid Tahkrooni and outstanding players Yasin Mahmoud, Abdullah Diab, Ebrahim Basheer, Mohamed Orabi, Khaled Suleman and Abdulaziz Tahkrooni. Sheikh Saud Bin Khaled Al-Thani, then-president of the Qatar Basketball Federation, awarded every player with a sum of 2,000 QR. In that first season with Coach Julio Salazar Rayyan Basketball won the Federation Cup, the Qatar Basketball League Dawry and the Emiry Cup. Coach Julio Salazar with Rayyan Club compiled a total of Ten Championships in the Professional Basketball League in Qatar and Four Championships in the Second Division Al Shabab in a period of four years. The team continued to show good performances in the basketball league throughout the new millennium, winning the Asia Champions Cup both in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

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2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, as well as finishing runners-up in 2001, 2003, 2008 and 2010 and placed third in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2011. They are the second most successful in the competition, and have the most total medals. They have also had regional success, winning the Gulf Club Championship in 2002 and 2004, in addition to finishing runners-up three times: 2003, 2006 and 2011.

Players

Honours

Domestic

* Qatari Championship : Winners (18): 1995–1996, 1996–1997, 1997–1998, 1998–1999, 1999–2000, 2001–2002, 2002–2003, 2003–2004, 2004–2005, 2005–2006, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2009–2010, 2010–2011, 2011–2012, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2022-2023 *Emir of Qatar Cup : Winners (9): 1993-1994, 1994-1995, 1998–1999, 1999-2000, 2003–2004, 2005–2006, 2009–2010, 2010–2011, 2012–2013 * Qatar Crown Prince Cup : Winners (6): 2001–2002, 2003–2004, 2004–2005, 2005–2006, 2007–2008, 2008–2009

International

*Gulf Club Championships :Winners (2): 2002, 2004 *

FIBA Asia Champions Cup The Basketball Champions League Asia (BCL Asia), formerly the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, is an annual continental club men's basketball competition organised by FIBA Asia. It is the highest level club competition for basketball in Asia. Introduce ...

:Winners (2):

Managerial history

* Ahmed Hassan (1970–??) * Abdul Monem Salem (''c.'' 1974) * Park Byung-suk (1979–80) * Al-Ahmad (1980–82) * Dr. Mustafa M Diab (1982–83) * Julio Salazar (1993-1995) * Ali Fakhro (''c.'' 1998) * Jack Olds (''c.'' 1999) * Julio Salazar (1999-2001) * Ahmed Abdul Hadi (''c.'' 2002) * Willie Charles Richardson (2003–2004) * Jaimie Angeli (2004–2007) * Brian Lester (2008–2009) * Carl Nash (2009–2010) * Russ Bergman (2010–2011) * Brian Rowsom (2011–2014) * Brian Lester (2014) * Stergios Koufos (2014)

Top league scorers each season

Notable players

;

* Yasseen Ismail * Omer Abdelqader * Erfan Ali Saeed *

Tanguy Ngombo Tanguy Alban Harrys Ngombo, often incorrectly written as Targuy Ngombo (born July 18, 1984 disputed">#Age_discrepancy.html" ;"title="/nowiki>#Age discrepancy">disputed/nowiki>), is a Congolese–Qatari professional basketball player who plays fo ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

Kimani Ffriend Kimani Ffriend (born 29 July 1977) is a Jamaican former professional basketball player. He played at the center position. College career Ffriend played NCAA college basketball with the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 1999 to 2001. Prior that, Ffrien ...

;USA *

Tierre Brown Tierre Brown (born June 3, 1979) is an American basketball player. Career Brown graduated from McNeese State University and began his career with the NBA's Houston Rockets in 2001. He played fifteen games for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2002-03 N ...

* Todd Day * Charron Fisher * A. J. Guyton * Kris Johnson *

Marlon Parmer Marlon Palmer (born September 28, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player. Career *2008-09: Colorado 14ers (NBA D-League) 15.0 ppg, 6.0 apg, 2.0 spg *2007: BC Kalev/Cramo (Est-KML) (9 games): 12.6ppg, 2.7apg, 4.2rpg 0.8spg *200 ...

* Boney Watson * Suleiman Braimoh * TJ Starks

References

External links

Asia-basket.com – Team profile

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al Rayyan Basketball Team Basketball teams established in 1970 Basketball teams in Doha