Al Rayyan Basketball Team ( ar, فريق الريان لكرة السلة) is a

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

i professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

team based in Omm Alafai in the city of

Al-Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled as ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipality in the state of Qatar. Its primary settlement is the city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and largely surrounds Metropolitan Doha and funct ...

, 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 multisport 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 and 2005, 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.

Honours

Domestic

* Qatari Championship : Winners (17): 1993-1994, 1994-1995, 1995–1996, 1996–1997, 1997–1998, 1998–1999, 1999–2000, 2000-2001, 2001–2002, 2002–2003, 2003–2004, 2004–2005, 2005–2006, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2009–2010, 2010–2011, 2011–2012, 2014-2015, 2015-2016 *Emir of Qatar Cup : Winners (6): 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 FIBA Asia Champions Cup, previously known as the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Champions Cup until 2002, is the Asian club championship for professional basketball. It is organised by FIBA Asia, and takes place once a year (since 199 ...

:Winners (2): 2002, 2005

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) * Russel Bergman (2010–2011) *

Brian Rowsom Brian Rowsom (born October 23, 1965) is an American basketball coach and former player, who was selected by the Indiana Pacers in the second round (34th pick overall) of the 1987 NBA draft. A 6' 10" power forward from the University of North Ca ...

(2011–2014) * Brian Lester (2014) * Stergios Koufos (2014)

Top league scorers each season

Notable players

;

Omer Abdelqader Omer Abdelqader (born October 1, 1983 in Doha, Qatar) is a professional basketball player. He plays for Qatar SC of the Qatar basketball league. He is also a member of the Qatar national basketball team. Abdelqader competed for the Qatar ...

Erfan Ali Saeed Erfan Ali Saeed (born December 20, 1983) is a professional basketball player. He plays for El Jaish SC of the Qatar basketball league. He is also a member of the Qatar national basketball team. Ali competed for the Qatar national basketball team ...

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

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Kimani Ffriend Kimani Ffriend (born 29 July 1977) is 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, Ffriend ...

;USA *

Tierre Brown Tierre Brown (born June 3, 1979) is an American former professional 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 ...

Todd Day Todd Fitzgerald Day (born January 7, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas. Day is the all-time leading scorer at the University of Arkansas, and pla ...

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* 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 *20 ...

Boney Watson Boney Harold Watson (born March 26, 1978) is an American-Qatari basketball point guard. He was part of the Qatari team that won the 2013 FIBA Asia 3x3 Championship and 2014 FIBA 3x3 World Championships The 2014 FIBA 3x3 World Championships, hos ...

* Suleiman Braimoh

References

External links

Official website

Asia-basket.com – Team Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Al Rayyan Basketball Team Basketball teams established in 1970 Basketball teams in Doha