Al-Ittihad ( ar, الاتحاد بحلب) is a major 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 ...

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

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. Al-Ittihad is the second most titled basketball club with 20 Syrian League titles and 21 Syrian Cups one of the most successful basketball clubs in

. ''Al-Ahli'' was founded in 1951, two years after the founding of the multi-sport club and the football team.

History

The club, which was founded in 1951, is one of the most famous and popular basketball clubs in

. The club changed its name in 1972, its previous one, Al Ahli, being used as a club nickname. The club's Great Era began in 1978 with the victory of the Syrian Cup and the defeat of Al Jalaa SC in the SBL final of the following 1979 season. In the league finals, Al-Ittihad defeated Al Jalaa in Aleppo twice 90-72 and 59-50, then achieved a third victory in the decisive match that took place in Damascus for

exceptional circumstances Exceptional circumstances are the conditions required to grant additional powers to a government agency or government leader so as to alleviate, or mitigate, unforeseen or unconventional hardship. The term is commonly used in Australia, where it h ...

66-58. This season is also remarkable that they claimed the Republic Cup by defeating Al Jalaa 76-71. Al Ittihad has twice been invited to take part in the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague). The first participation was in the 1979-80 season, during which the club, led by coach Munther Shalaby, faced in Group E the

KK Partizan Košarkaški klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Партизан, English: Partizan Basketball Club), commonly referred to as KK Partizan or simply Partizan, is a professional basketball team based in Belgrade, Serbia. It is ...

BC Partizani Tirana BC Partizani Tirana is a basketball team that play in the A1 basketball league (Albania), Albanian A-1 League. It is the most successful club in the Albanian Basketball history with 33 championship titles won. History Honors *Albanian Basketba ...

and Budapest Honvéd SE. The club was supposed to take part in the 1981–82 FIBA European Champions Cup as well, but after its beginning they withdrew from the competition. During the 1980s, Al-Ittihad was the Syrian League's hegemon as they won every domestic competition. The club's first major success on the international stage was third place at the 1991 Arab Basketball Championships. In the following season, the club won both home titles, advanced to the finals of the Arab Championship and defeated EO La Goulette Kram. The Great Era of domestic domination ended in the 1994 season with a loss in the SBL final with the Al-Wahda. In the 2000 season, they won their last long title in the Syrian Cup, the penultimate title in the SBL and advanced to the

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 quali ...

. In the 2001 season, however, they finished third behind Al-Wahda and Orthodox BC. In the 2006 season, they won their last domestic SBL title, finishing ahead of Al Jalaa SC,

Al-Jaish Al Jaish is Arabic for army, and may refer to: * Tala'ea El Gaish SC, a football club based in Cairo, Egypt * Al-Jaish FC (Iraq), a football club based in Baghdad, Iraq * Al-Jaish SC (Syria), a football club based in Damascus, Syria * El Jaish SC, ...

and Al Wahda in the Final Four. In the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

seasons, they participated in the WABA Cup, but without significant success. After the outbreak of the conflict in Syria and the

Battle of Aleppo A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, the club's operations were limited and its survival uncertain. Fortunately, the sports club managed to survive and the first big success under coach Bassel al Hamwi was the Syrian Cup victory in the 2020 season. In the 2022 season, Al-Ittihad won the

Syrian Super Cup The Syrian Super Cup ( ar, كأس السوبر السوري) is a Syrian association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Syrian Premier League and the winners of the Syrian Cup. It was first played in 1982, afterwa ...

when they defeated Al-Wahda 60:52 in the final of the competition.

Home arena

* Al-Assad Sports Arena: 1978–2021 * Al-Hamadaniah Sports Arena: 2021–present Image:Al-Assad Arena (30.12.2017).jpg, Al-Assad Sports Arena interior during a match Image:Hamadania arena.jpg, A panorama of Al-Hamadaniah Sports Arena For many years, Ittihad has used the Al-Assad Sports Arena, with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 3,500, to host its home games. Currently, Ittihad uses the 7,964 seat Al-Hamadaniah Sports Arena for its home games.

Club rivalries

Al-Ittihad SC plays the Aleppo city derby "El Clásico" with its main rival Al-Jalaa SC. Other urban rivals of the club are Al-Hurriya SC,

Al-Yarmouk SC Al-Yarmouk is a Kuwaiti professional sports club located in the district of Mishref. It was established on 28 February 1965 in Failaka Island and was the only Kuwaiti club to have been established outside mainland Kuwait at that time. The club w ...

(Homenetmen) and Ouroube SC.

Honours

Domestic

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 ...

**Winners (20): 1979 - 1980 - 1981 - 1982 - 1983 - 1984 - 1985 - 1986 - 1987 - 1988 - 1989 - 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1995 - 1996 - 2000 - 2006 - 2022 *Syrian Basketball Cup **Winners (21): 1978 - 1979 - 1980 - 1981 - 1982 - 1983 - 1984 - 1985 - 1986 - 1987 - 1988 - 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1997 - 1998 - 2000 - 2020 *

Syrian Basketball Super Cup The Syrian Basketball Super Cup ( ar, كأس السوبر السوري لكرة السلة) is the top-tier level national domestic basketball super cup competition, that is played between professional clubs in Syria. It was founded in 2021 as a n ...

**Winners (1):

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

International

**Third place (1):

2001 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, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

**Sixth place (2):

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 ...

**Winners (1): 1992 **Third place (1): 1991 * EuroLeague **Quarter-finals:

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

*Dubai International Tournament **Third place (1): 2005

International record

Sponsorship

*As of 2022:

Current roster

Squad for the 2021–2022 Syrian Basketball League season:

Transfers

''Transfers for the 2021-22 season:'' Joining * Antwan Scott from Al Hilal SC * Mohamed Harat from

Al Fateh SC Al Fateh Sports Club ( ar, نادي الفتح الرياضي) is a Saudi Arabian multi-sports club based in Al-Mubarraz, Al-Ahsa. It is mainly known for its professional football club. The club derives its nickname, "Al-Namothaji" (T''he Parag ...

* Wael Jlilaty from Duba SC * Ishaq Oubid from

Jalaa SC Jalaa Sporting Club (), previously known as Jeunesse Sportivo Alep is a multi-sports club based in the Syrian city of Aleppo. They are most notable with their football and basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most co ...

* Abdulwahab Al-Hamwi from Al-Karamah *

Michael Madanly Micheal Madanly (born 10 March 1981 in Aleppo), better known as Michel Madanly or just Micho, is a Syrian professional basketball player. Most known in his prime playing for Jalaa SC's basketball programme from 2004 to 2011, he also played in a n ...

from

Leaving * Wissam Yaqqub to

* Nazem Kassas to Wahda SC

Notable players

; *

Fadi El Khatib Fadi El Khatib ( ar, فادي الخطيب; born January 1, 1979), nicknamed "the Lebanese Tiger", is a Lebanese professional basketball player who plays in the Lebanese Basketball League for Sagesse. El Khatib played for several teams in the L ...

; * Micheal Madanly

Head coaches

Season by season

All-time records

*Most Syrian Basketball Cup champions (21 championships)

References

External links

basketball.asia, Al-Ittihad

Unofficial Fan Site and Forum
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Ittihad The Ittihad Party ( az, İttihad firqəsi) was a radical Islamist party in the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1917–1920. It was formed in September 1917 in opposition to the secular Musavat Party and proposed political unity of all the Musl ...

Sport in Aleppo Basketball teams established in 1951 1951 establishments in Syria