Al-Wahda () is a 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 ...

club. It is a part of the Al-Wahda Sports Club, which is based in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. The team changed its name in 1972 to the name they use today. It is known for being one of the pillars in the

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

not only in the capital

, but in all of

. Al-Wahda won the

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 ...

in 2003.

History

The team was founded in 1928 under the name Al-Qasioun Sports Club by Ahmed Ezzat Rifai, who was its original founder, being one of the oldest teams in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

, who founded it as a sports team, encompassing

. The club's golden age began in the 1990s, when the team was able to beat both the Aleppo clubs, Al Jalaa and Al Ittihad, and became the SBL champion in the 1994 season. Until the 2003 season, Al-Wahda SC absolutely dominated the domestic scene with 6 Syrian league titles. In the 1999-2004 seasons, they also won the Syrian Basketball Cup. During its golden era, Al Wahda has established itself mainly at the international level. In the 1998 season, the club debuted in the first year of the West Asian Champions Cup, where it took 4th place. In the 2000 season, the club played for the second time in WABA League, which it managed to win, and advanced to the

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the contin ...

for the first time. In the 2001 season, the team was able to defend their title in the WABA League and, after advancing to the

in a tough competition after winning over Winling Hong Kong, placed third. In the 2002-03 season, Al-Wahda SC achieved the greatest success in the history of the club and Syrian basketball. At the FIBA Asian Cup in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

, after winning the basic group, they advanced to the semifinals, where they defeated Sangmu FC 107:78 and in the final

Al-Rayyan SC Al-Rayyan Sports Club () is a Qatari multi-sports club fielding teams in a number of sports such as football, futsal, basketball, volleyball, handball, athletics, table tennis, and swimming. It is based at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Umm ...

96:63. In the following season, the club managed to advance to the

after finishing second in the 2004 WABA League, where they won the group and advanced to the quarterfinals. After advancing to the finals, the club failed to defend the title, as it lost to Sagesse SC 70:72. In 2014, after 11 years, the Wahda SC team won the SBL title after a 79:67 final win over

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad may refer to: Sports Football Men Teams * Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia * Al Ittihad SCSC (Tripoli), Tripoli, Libya * Al Ittihad Gheryan, Gharyan, Libya * Al Ittihad Misurata SC, Misurata, Libya * Al Ittihad SC ...

. In 2015, Al Wahda defeated Al-Ittihad SC in the final and won its ninth title and the second in a row. In 2017, the club won the Syrian Cup and thus its last title. The club's latest success is participating in the SBL final in the 2021 season, where it lost to Al Karamah SC 64:79 in the first match, won 74:69 in the second and lost 51:74 in the third. In the 2022 season, the team advanced to the Syrian Super Cup final, where it was beaten by

52:60.

Home arena

* Al-Fayhaa Sports Arena: 1976–present Image:Al-Fayhaa Sports Arena in Damascus.jpg, Al-Fayhaa Sports Arena

Club rivalries

The biggest rival of the club is Al-Jaish SC, the biggest city derby in Damascus are playing against each other.

Honours

Domestic

* Syrian Basketball League **Winners (11): 1993/1994 - 1996/1997 - 1997/1998 - 1998/1999 - 2000/2001 - 2001/2002 - 2002/2003 - 2013/2014 - 2014/2015 - 2022/2023 - 2023/2024 **Runners-Up (1): 2020/2021 *Syrian Basketball Cup **Winners (8): 1996 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2017 - 2021 * Syrian Basketball Super Cup **Winners (2):

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, 1994 **Runners-Up (1):

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

*Damascus Basketball Tournament **Third place (1): 2009

Asian

**Winners (1):

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

**Runners-Up (1):

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 60 ...

**Third Place (2):

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

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 ...

WABA Champions Cup The WABA Champions Cup, between 2011 and 2012 known as the West Asian Basketball League (WABL), was the West Asian club championship for basketball organized by West Asia Basketball Association, and took place every year, It also served as a q ...

**Winners (2):

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

**Runners-Up (1):

*Dubai International Tournament **Third place (1): 2011

Sponsorship

As of 2022, the main partners of the club are Cham Wings, Syria Gulf Bank, Lactomil (men team) and Dermexcel (women team).

Current roster

Squad for the 2021–2022 Syrian Basketball League season:

Past rosters

*''2010-2011:''

Transfers

''Transfers for the 2021-22 season:'' Joining * Ala'a Edelbi from Al-Jaish SC * Omar Edelbi from Al-Thawra SC * Hani Adribe from Al-Jaish SC * Chris Crawford from

SLAC SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, originally named the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, is a federally funded research and development center in Menlo Park, California, United States. Founded in 1962, the laboratory is now sponsored ...

* Mohamed Hdidane from US Monastir * Omar Abada from Al-Ittihad Jeddah * Leaving * Al Hakam Abdullah to Al-Jaish SC * Tarek Aljabi to

Al-Karamah SC Al-Karamah SC () is a Syrian professional association football, football club based in the city of Homs. Founded in 1928, it is considered to be one of Asia's oldest sporting clubs. The club has won eight Syrian League titles and eight Syrian Cu ...

Notable players

Head coaches

* Hady Darwish (2006–2012) * Rateb Sheikh Najeeb * Gennadi Samarskiy * Frederick Onika

Club presidents

* List of Al Wahda presidents since 1974:

Season by season

References

External links

Unofficial Fan Site and Forum
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Asia-basket
Wahda Sport in Damascus Basketball teams established in 1928