Syrian Basketball League

Syrian Basketball League
Organising body	Syrian Basketball Federation
Founded	1956; 68 years ago
First season	1956–1957
Country	Syria
Confederation	FIBA Asia (Asia); WABA (West Asia) ;
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Division 2
Domestic cup(s)	Syrian Basketball Cup
Supercup	Syrian Super Cup
International cup(s)	FIBA Asia Champions Cup; West Asia Super League; Arab Club Basketball Championship
Current champions	Al Wahda (11th title) ; (2023)
Most championships	Jalaa SC (29 titles)
TV partners	Syria TV
Website	www.syrbf.org
	2023–24 season

The Syrian Basketball League (Arabic: الدوري السوري لكرة السلة), officially Syriatel Basketbal League, 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 Basketball Federation. Both Aleppo teams, Jalaa SC and Al-Ittihad SC, dominated the league until 1993.^[1]

History

Jalaa SC, previously known as Shabibeh, dominated the league from 1956 until 1978. Then another team from Aleppo, Al-Ittihad SC, took all the titles until 1993.^[2] Later on, Damascus clubs Al Wahda and Al-Jaish SC won some titles sporadically.^[3] In 2021, for the first time in SBL history, the league was won by a club from the city of Homs, Al-Karamah SC.^[4]

Sponsorship

As of 2022, the league's main partners are Sinalco,^[5] Syriatel, Cham Wings Airlines, Sama TV and Syria TV.

Competition format

The SBL is played by the international FIBA rules. Since 2020–21 the SBL season has a new format. In the regular season, all teams play each other first home and away.^[6]

Based on the order in the first round, the top four teams play the playoff system.^[7] The semi-final consists of a series played in the twice-to-beat format of the best team with the worst and the second with the third of four.^[7]

The final is played in the format of two advancing semi-finalists in a series of three winning matches in the best of five format.^[8]

Promotion and relegation

The two worst teams relegate at the end of the season and the two best teams in Division 2 advance to the league.^[6]

Current clubs

2021–22 teams:^[9]^[10]

Al-Karamah
Al-Wathba

Al-Jaish
Al-Wahda
Al-Fayhaa
Al-Thawra

Huteen

Al-Taliya
Al-Nawair

Al-Ittihad
Al-Jalaa
Al-Hurriya

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Locations of teams in the Syrian Basketball League 2021–22

Team	City	Venue
Jalaa SC	Aleppo	Al-Assad Sports Arena
Al-Ittihad SC	Aleppo	Al-Hamadaniah Sports Arena
Al-Hurriya SC	Aleppo	Al-Assad Sports Arena
Al-Jaish SC	Damascus	Al-Fayhaa Arena
Al Wahda SC	Damascus	Al-Fayhaa Arena
Al-Fayhaa	Damascus	Al-Fayhaa Arena
Al-Thawra SC	Damascus	Al-Fayhaa Arena
Al-Karamah SC	Homs	Ghazwan Abu Zaid Arena
Al-Wathba SC	Homs	Ghazwan Abu Zaid Arena
Al-Nawair SC	Hama	Naseh al-Wani Arena
Al-Taliya SC	Hama	Naseh al-Wani Arena
Huteen SC	Latakia	Latakia Sports Arena

Title holders

Season	Champion
1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79	Jalaa SC
1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93	Al-Ittihad SC
1993–94	Al Wahda
1994–95	Al-Ittihad SC
1995–96	Al-Ittihad SC
1996–97	Al Wahda
1997–98	Al Wahda
1998–99	Al Wahda
1999–00	Al-Ittihad SC
2000–01	Al Wahda
2001–02	Al Wahda
2002–03	Al Wahda
2003–04	Al-Jaish SC
2004–05	Al-Jaish SC
2005–06	Al-Ittihad SC
2006–07	Jalaa SC
2007–08	Jalaa SC
2008–09	Jalaa SC
2009–10	Al-Jaish SC
2010–11	Jalaa SC
2011–12	Jalaa SC
~~2012–13~~	No Championship
2013–14	Al Wahda
2014–15	Al Wahda
2015–16	Al-Jaish SC
2016–17	Al-Jaish SC
2017–18	Al-Jaish SC
2018–19	Al-Jaish SC
~~2019–20~~	Season was suspended at the semi-finals due to COVID-19 pandemic in Syria
2020–21	Al-Karamah SC
2021–22	Al-Ittihad SC
2022–23	Al Wahda
2023–24	Al Wahda

Performances

Finals

Season	Champions	Score	Runners-up
2003–04	Al-Jaish	No play-offs	Jalaa
2004–05	Al-Jaish	No play-offs	Jalaa
2005–06	Al-Ittihad	No play-offs	Jalaa
2006–07	Jalaa	2–0	Al-Ittihad
2007–08	Jalaa	No play-offs	Al-Jaish
2008–09	Jalaa	3–0	Al-Jaish
2009–10	Al-Jaish	2–1	Jalaa
2010–11	Jalaa	3–0	Al-Jaish
2011–12	Jalaa	2–0	Al-Ittihad
2012–13	No Championship
2013–14	Al-Wahda	1–0	Al-Ittihad
2014–15	Al-Wahda	2–1	Al-Ittihad
2015–16	Al-Jaish	3–0	Al-Karamah
2016–17	Al-Jaish	No play-offs	—
2017–18	Al-Jaish	No play-offs	—
2018–19	Al-Jaish	3–1	Jalaa
2019–20	No Championship
2020–21	Al-Karamah	2–1	Al-Wahda
2021–22	Al-Ittihad	3–0	Al-Karamah
2022–23	Al-Wahda	3–0	Al-Ittihad
2023–24	Al-Wahda	4–0	Al-Karamah

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Winning years
Jalaa SC	29	1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011
Al-Ittihad SC	18	1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2005, 2021
Al Wahda	11	1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2013, 2014, 2022, 2023
Al-Jaish SC	7	2003, 2004, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
Al-Karamah SC	1	2020

Performance by city

City	Winners	Club(s)
Aleppo	47	Jalaa SC, Al-Ittihad SC
Damascus	18	Al Wahda, Al-Jaish SC
Homs	1	Al-Karamah SC

Women's league

2021–22 teams:^[11]^[12]

Team	City	Venue
Al-Jalaa SC	Aleppo	Al-Jalaa Arena
Al-Ittihad SC	Aleppo	Al-Assad Sports Arena
Ouroube SC	Aleppo	Al-Yarmouk Arena
Al-Thawra SC	Damascus	Al-Fayhaa Arena
Al-Wahda SC	Damascus	Al-Fayhaa Arena
Barada SC	Damascus	Al-Fayhaa Arena
Qasioun SC	Damascus	Al-Fayhaa Arena
Tishreen SC	Latakia	Latakia Sports Arena
Muhardeh SC	Muhardeh	Muhardeh Arena
Al-Sahel SC	Tartous	Basel al-Assad Arena