2022–23 FIBA West Asia Super League

The 2022–23 FIBA West Asia Super League was the inaugural season of the West Asia Super League (WASL), organised by FIBA Asia. The league featured eighteen teams.^[1] The season began on 19 December 2022 and finished on 17 June 2023 with the final game of the Final Eight, which was hosted in Dubai.

2022–23 FIBA WASL season
League	FIBA West Asia Super League
Sport	Basketball
Duration	19 December 2022 – 17 June 2023
Number of teams	18
Gulf League
Season champions	Kuwait Club (1st title)
Runners-up	Manama Club
West Asia League
Season champions	Al Riyadi Beirut (1st title)
Runners-up	Shahrdari Gorgan
Final Eight
Venue	Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Champions	Manama (1st title)
Runners-up	Kuwait Club
Seasons
2023–24 →

The league was split in two subdivisions, the West Asia League and the Gulf League, with both of them having a finals to determine the subdivision winners.

Manama won the inaugural title after defeating Kuwait Club in the championship game. Following their win, Manama was invited for the 2023 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

Format

The season exists out of 18 teams. Eight teams in the Western Asia region compete in home and away games for the sub-zonal title, while eight teams in the Gulf region do the same. The top three teams from each division advance to the Final round. There they are joined by the champions of the Kazakhstan Basketball Championship and the invited Indian representative. The two teams that advance to the championship game qualify for the 2023 FIBA Asia Champions Cup.^[2]

Teams

The Chennai Heat as the Indian National Basketball League champions, were supposed to play in the Final 8, but withdrew.^[3]

Final 8
Astana (1st)	Chennai Heat (1st)
Group phase
West Asia		Gulf
Beirut Club (1st)	Al Ittihad Aleppo (1st)	Al Hilal (1st)	Al Sadd (1st)
Al Riyadi Beirut (2nd)	Al Karamah (2nd)	Al Nassr (2nd)	Shabab Al Ahli (1st)
Shahrdari Gorgan (1st)	Orthodox Amman (1st)^[a]	Kuwait (1st)	Al Bashaer (1st)
Zob Ahan Isfahan (2nd)	Al Naft (1st)	Kazma (2nd)	Manama (1st)

Notes:

1. On December 15, 2022, FIBA announced that Jordanian Premier League runners-up Orthodox Amman were to replace champions Orthodox Ramallah as the representative of Jordan.^[4]

Draw

The draw was held on 28 October in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.^[5]

West Asia League

Main article: 2022–23 FIBA WASL West Asia League

The West Asia League began on 21 December 2022 and ended on 17 May 2023.

Group phase

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		BEI	ZAI	ORT	ITT
1	Beirut Club	4	3	1	321	269	+52	7	Advance to semi-finals		—	73–56	89–76	Canc.
2	Zob Ahan Isfahan	4	2	2	306	312	−6	6	Advance to semi-finals qualifiers		79–72	—	89–81	Canc.
3	Orthodox Amman	4	1	3	301	347	−46	5			58–87	86–82	—	Canc.
4	Al Ittihad Aleppo^[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew		Canc.	Canc.	Canc.	—

Source: FIBA WASL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Al Ittihad Aleppo has forfeited all their games due to withdrawal from the tournament as a result of the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake.^[6]

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		SHA	RIY	ALN	KAR
1	Shahrdari Gorgan	4	3	1	360	303	+57	7	Advance to semi-finals		—	75–62	110–69	Canc.
2	Al Riyadi Beirut	4	2	2	337	347	−10	6	Advance to semi-finals qualifiers		81–74	—	107–98	Canc.
3	Al Naft	4	1	3	358	405	−47	5			91–101	100–87	—	Canc.
4	Al Karamah^[a]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew		Canc.	Canc.	Canc.	—

Source: FIBA WASL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Al Karamah has forfeited all their games due to withdrawal from the tournament as a result of the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake.^[7]

Final phase

	Qualification to semifinals							Semifinals						Finals
	B2	Al Riyadi Beirut	102	95	97
	A3	Orthodox Amman	83	105	62
								A1	Beirut Club	77	92
								B2	Al Riyadi Beirut	104	102
														B2	Al Riyadi Beirut	87	114
														B1	Shahrdari Gorgan	79	100
	A2	Zob Ahan Isfahan	109	82	95
	B3	Al Naft	102	90	83
								B1	Shahrdari Gorgan	91	86			Third place game
								A2	Zob Ahan Isfahan	72	81
														A1	Beirut Club		93
														A2	Zob Ahan Isfahan		75

Gulf League

Main article: 2022–23 FIBA WASL Gulf League

The Gulf League began on 19 December 2022 and ended on 15 May 2023 with the last game of the finals.

Group phase

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		HIL	SAA	KAZ	BAS
1	Al Hilal	6	5	1	528	428	+100	11	Advance to semi-finals		—	81–72	96–92	86–54
2	Shabab Al Ahli	6	4	2	487	465	+22	10	Advance to semi-finals qualifiers		75–70	—	91–86	92–61
3	Kazma	6	3	3	537	516	+21	9			87–92	98–86	—	84–77
4	Al Bashaer	6	0	6	383	526	−143	6			48–103	69–71	74–90	—

Source: FIBA Gulf
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		KUW	MAN	NAS	SAD
1	Kuwait Club	6	6	0	597	496	+101	12	Advance to semi-finals		—	106–78	106–83	99–93
2	Manama Club	6	4	2	543	523	+20	10	Advance to semi-finals qualifiers		88–91	—	105–74	98–86
3	Al Nassr Riyadh	6	1	5	462	549	−87	7^[a]			70–101	72–75	—	77–78
4	Al Sadd	6	1	5	519	553	−34	7^[a]			84–94	94–99	84–86	—

Source: FIBA Gulf
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
Notes:

1. Head-to-head on point differential: Al Nassr Riyadh 163–162 Al Sadd.

Final phase

	Qualification to semifinals							Semifinals						Finals
	B2	Manama Club	69	100	82
	A3	Kazma	83	90	79
								A1	Al Hilal	78	71
								B2	Manama Club	82	86
														B2	Manama Club	78	85
														B1	Kuwait Club	87	95
	A2	Shabab Al Ahli	100	67	93
	B3	Al Nassr Riyadh	90	68	71
								B1	Kuwait Club	87	110			Third place game
								A2	Shabab Al Ahli	71	100
														A1	Al Hilal		76
														A2	Shabab Al Ahli		88

Final Eight

In the Final Eight, the top three teams from the West Asia and the Gulf League were joined by the proposed teams from South and Central Asia (India and Kazakhstan). On 23 May FIBA announced that the Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, would host the inaugural Final Eight.^[8]

The final stage began on 9 June and finished on 17 June with the WASL championship game.^[8]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		RIY	MAN	BEI	CHE
1	Al Riyadi Beirut	2	2	0	218	175	+43	4	Advance to semi-finals		—	112–84
2	Manama	2	1	1	170	187	−17	3				—	86–75
3	Beirut Club	2	0	2	166	192	−26	2			91–106		—
4	Chennai Heat	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew					—

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: FIBA

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification		KAZ	KUW	GOR	SAH
1	Astana	3	3	0	252	226	+26	6	Advance to semi-finals		—	85–72		80–73
2	Kuwait Club	3	2	1	242	230	+12	5				—	95–85
3	Shahrdari Gorgan	3	1	2	251	257	−6	4			81–87		—	85–75
4	Shabab Al Ahli	3	0	3	208	240	−32	3				60–75		—

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: FIBA

Final phase

Semi-finals

16 June

Boxscore

Astana	81–91	Manama Club
Scoring by quarter: 26-22, 18-23, 14-25, 23-21
Pts: Johnson 29 Rebs: Gavrilov, Anderson 5 Asts: Johnson 6		Pts: Rashed 23 Rebs: Evans 11 Asts: Pointer, Rashed 5

Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall, Dubai Attendance: 234^[9]

16 June

Boxscore

Al Riyadi Beirut	85–95	Kuwait Club
Scoring by quarter: 18-33, 16-24, 21-20, 30-18
Pts: Reath 31 Rebs: Reath 10 Asts: Saoud 6		Pts: Georges-Hunt 32 Rebs: Jawhar, Lalanne 6 Asts: Georges-Hunt, Alshemmari 4

Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall, Dubai Attendance: 300^[9]

Third place game

17 June

Boxscore

Al Riyadi Beirut	90–94	Astana
Scoring by quarter: 21-31, 23-16, 17-16, 29-31
Pts: Reath 23 Rebs: Reath 13 Asts: Murphy 5		Pts: Krampelj 23 Rebs: Krampelj 8 Asts: Johnson 8

Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall, Dubai Attendance: 100^[9]

Championship game

17 June

Boxscore

Kuwait Club	59–67	Manama Club
Scoring by quarter: 14-18, 12-21, 13-11, 20-17
Pts: Hasan 25 Rebs: Lalanne, Hasan 6 Asts: Five players 1		Pts: Rashed 18 Rebs: Pointer 8 Asts: Pointer, Thibodeaux 3

Sheikh Saeed Bin Maktoum Sports Hall, Dubai Attendance: 800^[9]

References

1. "FIBA announces the launch of West Asia Super League (WASL)". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
2. "FIBA announces creation of West Asia Super League". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
3. "Statement on Chennai Heat participating to the Final 8". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
4. [1]
5. "West Asia Super League (WASL) draw date confirmed". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
6. "Ittihad Al Ahli of Aleppo and Al Karamah withdraw from West Asia Super League (WASL)". 3 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
7. "Ittihad Al Ahli of Aleppo and Al Karamah withdraw from West Asia Super League (WASL)". 3 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
8. "Dubai to host the inaugural FIBA West Asia Super League Final 8". FIBA.basketball. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
9. "West Asia Super League - Final 8 2023 Tournament Summary" (PDF). FIBA Competitions Reports. 17 June 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.