The 35th edition of the Arab Clubs Basketball Championship for Men will commence tomorrow, Sunday, in Doha, with the participation of 18 teams divided into four groups. The first group includes Qatar, Bahrain's Muharraq, Palestine's Al-Brej Services, and Kuwait, the defending champion. The second group features Egypt's Al-Ittihad from Alexandria, the record holder with 7 titles, Oman’s Dhofar, Qatar's Al-Ahli, Lebanon's Dynamo, and Algeria’s Ittihad. Matches for these two groups will take place at Al-Gharafa Sports Hall.
The third group comprises Kuwait’s Qadsia, Yemen’s Al-Wahda, Morocco’s Sale, and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Fateh, while the fourth group includes Libya’s Ittihad, Iraq’s Dijlah, Morocco’s Maghreb Tangier, Lebanon’s Beirut (third place from the last tournament), and Egypt’s Al-Ahli (the runner-up). Matches for the last two groups will be held at Al-Rayan Sports Hall.
The championship will open with a match between Algeria's Ittihad and Dhofar at 2:00 PM Doha time, followed by Al-Ahli Qatar facing Dynamo at 4:30 PM in what is considered the strongest match of this round. Later, after the opening ceremony, Al-Brej Services will meet Qatar at 7:30 PM. The preliminary round will continue until next Friday, followed by a day off, and the Round of 16 the next day, where the top four from each group will compete, with the first from Group A facing the fourth from Group B, the second from Group A meeting the third from Group B, and the same format will apply to Groups C and D.
**Record Holder of the Tournament**
Looking back at the tournament's history, which started in Syria in 1978 and was paused for nine years before returning in 1987, Alexandria's Ittihad stands as the record holder. They won titles in the second tournament in 1987, sixth in 1991, ninth in 1995, tenth in 1999, sixteenth in 2002, thirty-first in 2018, and thirty-second in 2019. The second place goes to Lebanon’s Sport, which is absent from this edition, having five titles in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010.
Egypt’s Al-Jazeera ranks third with three titles in 1995, 2000, and 2001, while the Lebanese Hoops, Libyan Ahli Benghazi, Tunisian Stade Sfaxien each won the title twice. Additionally, the Syrian Al-Jalaa, Iraqi Al-Rashid, Syrian Ittihad, Tunisian Al-Malab, Saudi Al-Ittihad, Jordanian Zain, UAE’s Sharjah, Qatari Al-Rayan, Lebanese Homenetmen, Egyptian Al-Ahli, and Kuwaiti Kuwait each have won it once.
**Television Broadcasting Issues Resolved**
In another context, the championship faced some difficulties in the past days, especially concerning television broadcasting and entry visas. Major General Ismail Al-Qarqawi, the president of both the Arab and UAE Basketball Federations, made significant efforts, resulting in a resolution to these issues and reaching an agreement with Qatari sports channel Al-Kass to broadcast the tournament matches through Dubai Sports Channel, the exclusive broadcaster, under a three-year contract between the channel and the Arab Federation. Al-Qarqawi expressed his gratitude to Qatari Federation President Mohammed Al-Maghaiseeb for his efforts in overcoming this issue and achieving a happy conclusion.
