AS Salé (basketball)

AS Salé
AS Salé logo
NicknameLes Corsaires (Corsairs)
Pirates du Bouregreg (Pirates of the Bou Regreg)
LeaguesDivision Excellence
Founded1928
HistoryAS Salé
1928–present
ArenaSalle El Bouâzzaoui
Capacity2,000
LocationSalé, Morocco
PresidentMohamed Saâd Hassar
Head coachŽeljko Zečević
Team captainZakaria El Masbahi
Championships9 Moroccan Leagues
12 Moroccan Cups
1 FIBA Africa League
Websiteassbasketball.com

The Salle El Bouâzzaoui, the home arena of AS Salé

Association Sportive Salé (Arabic: جمعية سلا), commonly known as AS Salé, is a Moroccan basketball club from Salé. The club competes in the Division Excellence. Notable players of the team include senior men's Moroccan national basketball team members Abderrahim Najah, Zakaria El Masbahi and Soufiane Kourdou.

Salé has won the Moroccan championship 9 times and the Moroccan Throne Cup a record 12 times. The team won one continental title, the FIBA Africa Champions Cup which it won in 2017. Salé also participated in the first two seasons of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) in 2021 and 2022.

History

The basketball section of multi-sports club AS Salé was established on 1928. The team played in the Division Excellence, Morocco's first tier, for years but did not win its first league title until 2010.[1]

On 20 December 2017, Salé won the 2017 FIBA Africa Champions Cup, Salé's first international title and the first title of a Moroccan team at the event in almost 20 years.[2] It did so by defeating Étoile de Radès in Radès, winning the final 77–69.[3] Head coach of the winning team was Said El Bouzidi. After the tournament, Salé's Abdelhakim Zouita was named Most Valuable Player of the competition while Abderrahim Najah was honoured with a place in the All-Star Five.

In the following continental season, Salé had another outstanding year. The team reached the final for its second consecutive year but failed to defeat Angolan side Primeiro de Agosto.

As winners of the 2018–19 Moroccan League, Salé qualified for the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). In its debut season, Salé reached the quarterfinals behind league top scorer Terrell Stoglin who averaged 30.8 points per game. After two seasons were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team won its eight national title on 27 July 2021, after edging FUS Rabat in the final.[4]

In March 2022, Liz Mills signed as head coach of Salé, becoming the first female head coach of a men's team in Morocco and the Arab world.[5] In the 2022 BAL season, they were eliminated by Petro de Luanda for a second year in a row. Mills left Salé after the BAL, making space for Said El Bouzidi to return. On 30 June 2022, Salé won its ninth Division Excellence championship after beating FUS Rabat in the finals.[6]

On 12 October 2023, Salé defeated Al Ahly in the semi-final of the 2023 Arab Club Basketball Championship, Thus reaching the final for the fifth time in its history.[7][8] They placed second after losing the final against Beirut Club.[9][10]

Honours

Honours Number Years
Domestic
Division Excellence Winners 9 2009–10, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2020–21, 2021–22
Runners-up 5 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2023–24
Moroccan Throne Cup Winners 12 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2024
Runners-up 2 2004, 2019
International
FIBA Africa Basketball League Winners 1 2017
Runners-up 1 2018–19
Third place 3 2010, 2011, 2016
Arab Championship Runners-up 5 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2023
Third place 1 2018

Players

Current roster

The following is AS Salé's roster for the 2022 BAL season.

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

AS Salé roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age
SG 1 Morocco Allal, Chems Eddine 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 24 – (2000-02-15)15 February 2000
PG 2 Morocco El Masbahi, Zakaria 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 45 – (1979-03-29)29 March 1979
F/C 4 Morocco Najah, Abderrahim 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 40 – (1984-11-20)20 November 1984
PG 5 Morocco El Madini, Abdelmajid 26 – (1998-05-18)18 May 1998
C 6 Morocco Kourdou, Soufiane 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 39 – (1985-05-21)21 May 1985
SG 10 Niger Harouna, Abdoulaye (I, C) 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 32 – (1992-02-12)12 February 1992
G 11 Morocco Bennis, Nadir (E) 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 21 – (2003-11-08)8 November 2003
F/C 15 Spain Calvo Masa, Álvaro (I) 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 41 – (1983-03-27)27 March 1983
PF 23 Morocco Jaddi, Hamza 1.99 m (6 ft 6 in) 31 – (1993-08-25)25 August 1993
PF 24 Morocco Chaoui Kouraichi, Mohammed 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 25 – (1999-09-10)10 September 1999
PF 34 Morocco Azouga, Badreddine 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 29 – (1995-02-07)7 February 1995
CG 41 United States Stoglin, Terrell (I) 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 33 – (1991-11-10)10 November 1991
PF 50 Morocco Boukichou, Khalid 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 32 – (1992-09-17)17 September 1992
Head coach
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (I) Import player
  • (E): BAL Elevate player
  • Injured Injured
Updated: March 5, 2022

Past rosters

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria

To appear in this section a player must have either:

  • Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club
  • Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time
  • Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

Head coaches

References

  1. ^ "AS de Sale – History". Afrobasket.com. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  2. ^ Basketball : L’AS Salé champion d’Afrique Archived 11 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine, La Vie éco, 21 December 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2017 (in French)
  3. ^ "Association Sportive de Salé v Etoile Sportive Radès boxscore - FIBA Africa Champions Cup 2017 - 20 December". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  4. ^ "Basket: l'AS Salé sacrée championne du Maroc". Le360 Sport (in French). Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Coach Mills Is Ready for the Show". AS Salé Basketball. 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Basket: l'AS Salé championne du Maroc 2022". MSport.ma (in French). 30 June 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  7. ^ "The representative of Moroccan basketball shines.. The Salé Association qualifies for the final of the Arab Championship". ar.hibapress.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  8. ^ "Arab Club Basketball Championship... Salé Association qualifies for the final". Medi1 News (in Arabic). 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  9. ^ "Salé Association loses the final of the Arab Basketball Championship" (in Arabic). 12 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  10. ^ "For the fifth time: Salé Association failed to achieve the Arab title". للمرة الخامسة: جمعية سلا أخفق في تحقيق اللقب العربي (in Arabic). 12 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  11. ^ "Said Bouzidi is back in Morocco, take over the Pirates of Sale". Eurobasket.com. Retrieved 6 March 2020.