FIBA WASL Season 2: Domestic league rivals lead matchups to watch out in West Asia League

BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Rivalries from different domestic leagues are set to write new chapters of their storied battles come Season 2 of the highly-anticipated FIBA WASL-West Asia League.

The inaugural festivities witnessed rivaling clubs of Iran and Lebanon take on one another in a bigger stage for a wider audience to see, and the pan-regional competition becoming another avenue to add more flavor to those clashes will continue with the arrival of new participants.

Al Riyadi versus Dynamo

Definitely, much of the attention will be on reigning sub-zone league champions Al Riyadi if they can extend their reign, but one of those looking to spoil that plan are Dynamo.

It may need some blessing from the basketball gods to see it take place since they are drawn in different groups. But if they do, Dynamo would surely want to beat them after being on the losing end of a gentleman's sweep in the 2022-23 Lebanese Basketball Championship best-of-7 Finals.

 

Should that really happen, it would set up Al Riyadi in another clash against another inter-city rival. It could be remembered that they battled Beirut Club in the West Asia semis last season, and eventually won the series in a sweet payback over what happened in the 2021-22 Lebanese league title bout.

All-Iraqi showdown?

If an all-Iranian showdown happened between Shahrdari Gorgan and ZobAhan in the previous WASL-West Asia semis, Iraqi teams may be the one battling in FIBA WASL this time around.

Just recently, it was announced that Al Shorta SC are taking the place of Jordan's Al Ahli Amman, becoming the second club from Iraqi Basketball League to take part after Al Naft.

But like the Al Riyadi-Dynamo situation, the two may meet at least in the Final Phase. And should that happen, Al Shorta are hoping to see a different result that sees them victorious.

For starters, the team has lost to Al Naft in the last six Finals of their league. Six, yes. Thus, their hunger to turn things around in their if and only if they get to fight one another in FIBA WASL.

Al-Ittihad Ahli versus Al Wahdaa

Winners of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2003, Al Wahdaa secured a berth in FIBA WASL after conquering the 2022-23 Syrian Basketball League, beating Al-Ittihad Ahli of Aleppo in the Finals to become one of the league's most successful teams with 10 championships.

But similar to Season 1, the champion and runner-up in the Syrian league will make it to the pan-regional contest, and so that means these two might meet again down the road.

Shahrdari Gorgan vs Al Naft

But of course, even with the excitement that the aforementioned potential matchups are bringing, not to be forgotten are the old foes meeting each other again this Season 2.

Gorgan and Al Naft are set for a rematch not once but twice in the upcoming meet, as they got drawn together in Group A. The two were in Group B last season, with the former looking to extend its mastery of the latter after owning both of their encounters in the preliminaries.

Their season-sweeping win, a 101-91 result that was also the penultimate game of the WASL-West Asia Group Phase, was one that stung Al Naft the hardest as they missed the chance of securing a direct flight ticket to the sub-zone semis. Exacting vengeance are on their minds, no doubt.

Al Riyadi versus the new teams

Another thing to look forward to, ultimately, are the the new teams bidding to give the defending WASL-West Asia champions  a run for their money in Group B.

Aside from Al Shorta, Al Riyadi will also be facing Al Wahdaa and Orthodox Beit Sahour.

Orthodox Beit Sahour punched their ticket by winning the 2022-23 Palestinian Basketball League champions as Palestine finally tests their mettle in the new league.

Click here to view the WASL West Asia schedule

FIBA