Al Ahly Ly (basketball)

This article is about the Libyan basketball team. For the Egyptian basketball team with the same name, see Al Ahly (basketball). For the football section of the club, see Al-Ahly SC (Benghazi). For the basketball team from Tripoli, see Al Ahli Tripoli (basketball).

Al-Ahly Sports Cultural & Social Club (Arabic: الأهلي), also known as Al-Ahly Ly^[1][2][3] or Al-Ahly Benghazi, is a Libyan basketball club that is based in Benghazi. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Libyan Division I Basketball League and has won four championships, in 2010, 2011, 2023 and 2025.

Al-Ahly Ly
Nickname	The Long Journey The Butchers
Leagues	Libyan Basketball League BAL
Founded	1950 (parent club: 1947)
History	Al Ahly Benghazi (1950–present)
Arena	Suliman Darrat Arena
Location	Benghazi, Libya
Team colors	Red, White
Chairman	Khaled Mohamed
Head coach	Joe Ghattas
Championships	4 (2010, 2011, 2023, 2025)
Website	alahly.com.ly
Home Away

In the 2024 season, they debuted in the Basketball Africa League (BAL), becoming the first team from Libya to play in the competition. Al Ahly has won the Arab Club Championship in 2012 and 2013. Al Ahly Ly were the runners-up of the 2024 BAL season.

History

Al-Ahly is the basketball section of the multi-sports club; the basketball section was founded in 1950, although the club had been active before. They finished third in the 2008–09 Libyan League season.^[4] The club won their first national championship in 2010, and won a second consecutive one in 2011.

In 2012, Al Ahly won the Arab Club Basketball Championship, by defeating JS Kairouan of the Tunisia in the final.^[5] They repeated for a second consecutive title in 2013. Both tournaments were hosted in Benghazi.

BAL finalists (2023–2024)

Al Ahly ended a 12-year drought in 2022-23, when the club won its third national championship. As such, Al-Ahly was eligible to represent Libya in the Road to BAL 2024 tournament. They acquired high-profile players such as ex-BAL Defensive Player of the Year Ater Majok, All-BAL First Team selection Chris Crawford and two-time BAL champion Solo Diabate. On 5 November 2023, Al Ahly clinched their berth in the 2024 BAL season, following their 93–84 win over FAP in the third place game. Crawford scored 39 points in the decisive game.^[6] As such, Al Ahly Benghazi became the first team from Libya to qualify for the BAL main tournament.^[6]

The team acquired import players Jo Lual-Acuil, Majok Deng, Kevin Murphy and Pierre Jackson for the main BAL season. After finishing second in the Nile Conference, they entered the playoffs as the seventh seed but were able to eliminate the defending champions Al Ahly from Egypt. In the semifinal, the Rivers Hoopers from Nigeria were eliminated after overtime.^[7] In the decisive final, Al Ahly lost to Petro de Luanda to finish in second place.^[8] Al Ahly Ly's Jo Lual-Acuil was named the BAL Most Valuable Player of the season.

After losing the finals to Al Ahli Tripoli, Al Ahly only played domestically in 2024–25, but went on to win its fourth national title.^[9]

Honours

Domestic

Libyan Basketball League

• Winners (4): 2009–10, 2010–11, 2022–23, 2024–25

Libyan Cup^[3]

• Winners (2): 2009–10, 2022–23

Libyan Supercup^[10]

• Winners (3): 2010, 2023, 2024^[11]

International

Basketball Africa League (BAL)

• Runners-up (1): 2024

Arab Club Basketball Championship

• Champions (2): 2012, 2013

In African competitions

FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup (3 appearances)

2010 – Group Stage

2011 – Group Stage

2013 – 8th Place

Basketball Africa League (1 appearance)

2024 –  Silver

Road to BAL (1 appearance)

2024 – Place

Players

Current roster

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

Al Ahly Ly roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age G 1 Golden, Trae 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 33 – (1991-10-05)5 October 1991 C 3 Majok, Ater 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) 38 – (1987-07-04)4 July 1987 SG 6 Crawford, Chris 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 32 – (1992-09-30)30 September 1992 F 8 Zeew, Adrees 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 25 – (2000-05-10)10 May 2000 PF 9 Hamad, Sofian 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 26 – (1998-10-16)16 October 1998 PG 10 Diabate, Solo 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 38 – (1987-07-21)21 July 1987 C 12 Aldirfili, Omar 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 28 – (1997-03-02)2 March 1997 C 13 Elmansouri, Anis Zaid Ali 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 30 – (1995-01-04)4 January 1995 SG 14 Aljahmi, Asmaeil 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 25 – (1999-09-28)28 September 1999 PG 19 Alrashidi, Rasheed 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) 21 – (2003-12-01)1 December 2003 PF 23 Almaghribi, Ghayth Alrahman 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 26 – (1999-01-25)25 January 1999 PG 30 Benalhaj, Mahmoud Abdalla 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) 34 – (1991-01-25)25 January 1991	Head coach Joe Ghattas Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 2 November 2023

Head coaches

The following people have been, among others, head coach of Al Ahly Benghazi:

• Emad El-Din: (1985–1986)
• Mahmoud Emad: (2009–2011)^[12]
• Veselin Matić: (2012–2014)
• Radenco Orlovic: (2017–2018)^[13]
• Zoran Cvetanović: (2021–2022)
• Mohamed Yahaya: (2022)^[14]
• Aouen Monaem (2022–2024)

• Joe Ghattas: (2024–)