Jalaa Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي الجلاء الرياضي), also known as Jeunesse Sportivo Alep (Shabibeh), is a Syrianbasketball club based in the city of Aleppo.[1] They compete in the Syrian Basketball League, and have qualified for the Asian Champions Cup on four occasions, with its best finish in 2006 and 2007, where they finished second on both occasions.[2]
Al Jalaa is the club with the largest number of titles in Syria and is the holder of the first Syrian basketball successes at the international level.[citation needed]
History
Jeunesse Sportivo Alep (Shabibeh), later known as Jalaa SC, was established under the name of the Catholic Youth Club and its headquarters was in Al-Aziziyah district.[3] They managed to win the Syrian Basketball League for 23 consecutive years from 1956 until 1978.[4] They also won 9 Syrian Basketball championships in this period.[4]
They participated in the FIBA European Champions Cup in 6 times: 1958 (second round), 1970–71 (first round), 1971–72 (withdrew), 1972–73 (withdrew), 1975–76 (first round), and 1978–79 (quarterfinals group stage).[4] However, they failed to secure any single win in all their matches in the competition.
After 1979, there was a retreat from the positions, as the main rival of the Al-Ittihad SC club was the best basketball club in the country until the first half of the 1990s.[5] The club therefore worked with juniors and youth.[citation needed]
In 2005, the team returned in excellent form by winning the Syrian Basketball Cup. In the following 2006 season, after defeating the cup triumph and participating in the SBL final, the team qualified for the FIBA Asia Champions Cup, where they reached the final in which they lost to Fastlink BC.[6]
Al-Jalaa won the Syriatel Cup (Al-Jalaa International Championship) in 2005 after defeating the Lebanese Sagesse SC in the final and achieved runner-up in the Dubai International Championship 2007.[7][8]
In the 2007 season, the club managed to win the domestic league and the cup and reach the final of the WABA league, where they lost to Saba Battery 79-82.[9] In the same season, a team led by Sherif Azma reached the Asian Cup final, where they lost to Saba Battery 75:83.[10]
In the 2008 and 2009 seasons, the club managed to win both domestic competitions (SBL and Cup), but with the exception of winning the Aleppo Cup, it did not succeed at the international level.[11]
In the 2010 season, the CJS advanced to the 2010 WABA Cup as the Syrian league runner-up, and a 79:125 loss to Mahram BC prevented them from winning the competition.[12] As finalists of the WABA Cup, they advanced to the 2010 Asian Cup, where they finished in 6th place after a quarter-final loss to Mahram BC.[13]
In the 2011 season, they became SBL champions after the final victory over Al-Jaish and qualified for the WABA Cup. In the group stage of the tournament, they gradually defeated Al-Riyadi Beirut, Zob Ahan BC, Al Riyadi Amman and Al-Ahli Sanaa and advanced to the quarterfinals, in which they defeated ASU BC.[14] The final of the WABA League in which they met Al-Riyadi Beirut lost in the decisive match 77:85.[14]
As a finalist in the WABA league, the club participated in the 2011 FIBA Asia Champions Cup, in which after advancing from the group stage, it was eliminated in the quarterfinals with Smart Gilas and finished in 6th place.[15]
In 2012, CJS defeated Al-Ittihad SC in the SBL final and won its last league title.[16] After the outbreak of the Battle of Aleppo in 2012, the club's existence was threatened. However, the club managed to survive, and after the end of the war in Aleppo it continued its sports activities.
The CJS gained their first big success in a long time in the 2021 season, when they managed to beat the Al-Jaish SC in the Syrian Cup final.[17]
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