BEIRUT (Lebanon) - Four teams are set to compete for the opportunity to vie for supremacy in the region as the highly anticipated 2024/2025 FIBA WASL-Gulf League Semi-Finals commences this week.
As Kuwait Club's two-season reign came to a shocking end during the Qualification to Semi-Finals last February, fans and pundits alike have grown curious as to who among Manama, Shabab Al Ahli, Ittihad Club, and Qadsia will succeed the erstwhile titlists and ascend to the throne as the new conquerors of the Sub-Zone League.
It has, indeed, become an open race to the crown featuring two of the league's pioneering ball clubs and two newcomers which have already gone this far in just their maiden foray in the pan-regional competition.
The Gulf League Semi-Finals opens Monday, March 10, in Dubai featuring the 'originals' in Manama and Shabab Al Ahli in a best-of-3 series pitting two teams that have definitely grown familiar with another.
The two have been competing in WASL since the 2022/2023 inaugurals, and have in fact faced one another twice during the Group Phase of the Gulf League just last season, with the Bahraini side winning both.
But it's only now that they're going to battle it out in the Semi-Finals, with Manama, of course, hoping to assert mastery over their counterparts from UAE and book a third straight Finals appearance.
They do have a shot at doing so. Aside from the head-to-head record, the team of Coach Linos Gavriel are entering the Semi-Finals in-form and confident after ousting Al Ahli Club in an all-Bahraini showdown in the Qualification to Semi-Finals, where they overcame a 0-1 series deficit by pulling off a reverse sweep.
But definitely, Shabab Al Ahli would want none of that. The squad is out to prove that their direct qualification to the Semi-Finals is no fluke, which they accomplished by finishing as the no. 1 seed in Group A.
They topped the group with a 5-1 record and arguably their most important win of the season was the 90-83 victory they had against Kuwait Club, which enabled them to secure the top seed - and send the erstwhule defending two-time champions to an unfamiliar territory: the 2-seed and to the Qualification to Semi-Finals.
And that loss would mark the beginning of the end for Kuwait Club. They got swept by Ittihad Club in the best-of-3 affair, which was remembered by some fans for the Kuwaiti side's drastic decision to let go of long-time head coach Peter Schomers right in the middle of that series and brought in Oliver Kostic to take his place.
Still, it doesn't take away the fact that the the ball club from Saudi Arabia pulled off an upset so massive on their way to setting up Semi-Final date with Qadsia - someone they've grown familiar with.
That's because both teams have already fought one another in Group B, with the team of Coach Joey Stiebing coming out on top on both occasions to eventually finish as the top seed in the pool with a 4-2 record.
That finish has also equipped the crew of homecourt advantage, meaning that their series will start - and end, if ever it goes to a deciding Game 3 - will be held in Kuwait City. Game 1 is set Tuesday, March 11.
The top three teams by the end of the Gulf League Final Phase will book their tickets to the 2024/2025 FIBA WASL Final 8, the league's culminating event, and will be competing against the top three teams from the ongoing WASL-West Asia League and the champion teams from South and Central Asia for the championship.
FIBA