United Arab Emirates men's national basketball team

United Arab Emirates

FIBA ranking	111 2 (15 August 2024)[1]
Joined FIBA	1976
FIBA zone	FIBA Asia
National federation	United Arab Emirates Basketball Association
Coach	Mounir Ben Slimane
Nickname(s)	Al Abyad (The White One) Eyal Zayed (Sons of Zayed)
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	None
FIBA Asia Cup
Appearances	8
Medals	None
Asian Games
Appearances	7
Medals	None
Home Away
First international
United Arab Emirates 121–44 North Yemen  (New Delhi, India; 20 November 1982)
Biggest win
United Arab Emirates 121–44 North Yemen  (New Delhi, India; 20 November 1982)
Biggest defeat
Lebanon 108–38 United Arab Emirates  (Tianjin, China; 7 August 2009)

The United Arab Emirates men's national basketball team (Arabic: منتخب الإمارات العربية المتحدة لكرة السلة) represents the United Arab Emirates in international basketball. They are controlled by the United Arab Emirates Basketball Association.

The UAE made its debut in international competition at the 1982 Asian Games. Furthermore, the national team has qualified to the FIBA Asia Cup eight times, with their best result coming in 1997, where they finished fifth. The UAE has also competed at the Arab Nations Cup multiple times, where they had their top performance in 1997, winning bronze.

The United Arab Emirates played in their first international match at the 1982 Asian Games. The group stage fixture win against North Yemen, was one of only two victories for the team against four losses during the event; which saw the team miss out on making it to the medal round. After the tournament, the team would not appear at an international competition until the 1990 Asian Games, where the team would only achieve modest results.

Three years later, the United Arab Emirates made their debut at the top continental competition, the 1993 FIBA Asia Cup. Placed into Group B during the preliminary phase, the UAE won two out of their three matches for a record of (2–1) to advance into the quarter-finals. However, the UAE would lose a narrowly contested match against Iran 73–77, to relegate the team to the classification rounds to finish out the tournament.^[2] After nearly reaching the semi-finals at the first FIBA Asia Cup tournament the UAE took part in, the team was back at the next edition of the event in 1995. Stationed in Group B once again, the UAE, however, would only win one of their preliminary phase matches; which came against the Philippines 70–56, to be sent to the classification stages for the second straight tournament.^[3] There, the team would pickup four more victories to close out the competition in ninth place.^[4]

Behind subpar performances at their first two FIBA Asia Cup competitions, the United Arab Emirates entered the tournament in 1997, determined to gain better results. After completely dominating India, and Bangladesh in their first two preliminary phase matches, the team fell in a close defeat to South Korea 73–72. Although with the two wins, the team automatically advanced into the quarter-final round. Entering the phase, the UAE would only prevail in one of their three matches, a 77–59 win against Jordan.^[5] The loss for the team would send them into the classification fifth place game, where they would earn one more victory to end the competition.^[6] After the tournament, the UAE would make the competition five more times over the next 14 years through the 2011 edition, accumulating only disappointing outcomes.

FIBA World Cup [edit] World Cup Qualification Year Position Pld W L Yr Pld W L 1950 to 1970 Part of United Kingdom Part of United Kingdom 1974 Not a FIBA member Not a FIBA member 1978 Did not enter Did not enter 1982 1986 1990 1994 Did not qualify FIBA Asia Cup served as qualifiers 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2019 Did not enter Did not enter 2023 2027 To be determined To be determined Total 0/12 Asian Games [edit] Asian Games Year Position Pld W L 1951 to 1970 Part of United Kingdom 1974 Not an IOC member 1978 1982 11th 6 2 4 1986 Did not enter 1990 6th 5 1 4 1994 9th 4 0 4 1998 8th 6 1 5 2002 11th 5 1 4 2006 13th 2 1 1 2010 Did not enter 2014 2018 2022 13th 3 0 3 Total 7/11 31 6 25

FIBA Asia Cup [edit] Asia Cup Qualification Year Position Pld W L Yr Pld W L 1960 to 1971 Part of United Kingdom Part of United Kingdom 1973 Not a FIBA Asia member Not a FIBA Asia member 1975 1977 Did not enter No qualifiers were held 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 8th 6 2 4 Direct qualification 1995 9th 7 5 2 1997 5th 7 4 3 1999 10th 7 4 3 2001 10th 6 3 3 2003 Did not enter Withdrew 2005 Did not qualify 2005 5 1 4 2007 16th 7 1 6 2007 5 3 2 2009 12th 8 1 7 2009 4 2 2 2011 10th 8 2 6 2011 3 1 2 2013 Did not qualify 2013 4 1 3 2015 2015 5 1 4 2017 2017 4 2 2 2022 2022 6 3 3 2025 To be determined 2025 In progress Total 8/22 56 22 34 36 14 22

  Win   Loss

Iran  v  United Arab Emirates

26 September 2022 Asian Games – Group stage	Iran	81–57	United Arab Emirates	Hangzhou, China
11:00 (UTC+8)	Scoring by quarter: 23–24, 18–20, 22–9, 18–4
	Pts: Rezaeifar 19 Rebs: Mirzaei 11 Asts: Rezaeifar 4	Boxscore	Pts: Q. Alshabebi 23 Rebs: Q. Alshabebi 9 Asts: Alzaabi, Mohammad 3	Arena: Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo Center Referees: Yuen Chun Yip (HKG), Preeda Muongmee (THA), John Lester Celeste (PHI)

United Arab Emirates  v  Kazakhstan

28 September 2022 Asian Games – Group stage	United Arab Emirates	49–59	Kazakhstan	Hangzhou, China
17:30 (UTC+8)	Scoring by quarter: 14–16, 14–14, 15–14, 6–15
	Pts: Q. Alshabebi 14 Rebs: Alameri 9 Asts: Alameri, H. Albreiki 2	Boxscore	Pts: Marchuk 14 Rebs: Bykov, Pan 10 Asts: Kuanov 8	Arena: Zhejiang University Zijingang Gymnasium Referees: Harja Jaladri (IDN), Kim Bo-hui (KOR), John Lester Celeste (PHI)

Saudi Arabia  v  United Arab Emirates

30 September 2022 Asian Games – Group stage	Saudi Arabia	74–67	United Arab Emirates	Hangzhou, China
13:30 (UTC+8)	Scoring by quarter: 20–26, 26–16, 14–20, 14–5
	Pts: Alsuwailem 22 Rebs: Alsuwailem 12 Asts: Alsuwailem 6	Boxscore	Pts: Alzaabi 16 Rebs: Alzaabi 7 Asts: Alzaabi 5	Arena: Zhejiang University Zijingang Gymnasium Referees: Preeda Muongmee (THA), Ahmed Alyousef (JOR), Tee Yong Sern (MAS)

Bahrain  v  United Arab Emirates

23 February 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers	Bahrain	70–64	United Arab Emirates	Manama, Bahrain
19:00 (UTC+3)	Scoring by quarter: 22–9, 20–21, 9–12, 19–22
	Pts: Rashed 28 Rebs: Chism 12 Asts: Isa 4	Boxscore	Pts: Hussein 17 Rebs: N'Diaye Asts: Almaazmi 4	Arena: Khalifa Sports City Stadium Attendance: 741 Referees: Ahmed Al-Bulushi (OMA), Cheon Kam-jae (KOR), Imran Baig (IND)

United Arab Emirates  v  Syria

26 February 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers	United Arab Emirates	63–78	Syria	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
19:00 (UTC+4)	Scoring by quarter: 17–16, 11–26, 12–15, 23–21
	Pts: Alshabebi 14 Rebs: N'Diaye 11 Asts: Alzaabi, Hussein 4	Boxscore	Pts: Blake 19 Rebs: Adribi, Atli 9 Asts: four players 3	Arena: Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum Sports Hall Attendance: 333 Referees: Mohammad Taha (JOR), Anton Kozlov (KAZ), Imran Baig (IND)

United Arab Emirates  v  Lebanon

22 November 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers	United Arab Emirates	vs.	Lebanon	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
19:30 (UTC+4)
		Boxscore		Arena: Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum Sports Hall

United Arab Emirates  v  Bahrain

25 November 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers	United Arab Emirates	vs.	Bahrain	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
19:00 (UTC+4)
		Boxscore		Arena: Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum Sports Hall

Syria  v  United Arab Emirates

21 February 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers	Syria	vs.	United Arab Emirates	Syria
		Boxscore

Lebanon  v  United Arab Emirates

24 February 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers	Lebanon	vs.	United Arab Emirates	Lebanon
		Boxscore

Roster for the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers matches on 23 and 26 February 2024 against Bahrain and Syria.^[7]

United Arab Emirates men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. PG 0 Rashed Mohammad 26 – (1998-02-12)12 February 1998 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Al-Nasr G 5 Hassn Hussein 23 – (2000-05-15)15 May 2000 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Al-Nasr G/F 6 Rashed Alnuaimi 33 – (1991-02-14)14 February 1991 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Al-Nasr G/F 8 Faisal Mohamed 26 – (1997-10-19)19 October 1997 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Al-Nasr F 10 Omer Alameri 32 – (1991-11-18)18 November 1991 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Sharjah SG 11 Rashed Alzaabi 35 – (1988-10-19)19 October 1988 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Sharjah 12 Hamad Ashoor 32 – (1992-01-26)26 January 1992 Unattached F/C 13 Mamadou N'Diaye 31 – (1993-02-14)14 February 1993 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) Al-Nasr C 15 Jassim Almaazmi (C) 35 – (1988-11-24)24 November 1988 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Sharjah F 21 Abdulla Alabdulla 26 – (1997-05-25)25 May 1997 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Shabab Al Ahli C 23 Qais Alshabebi 32 – (1991-10-31)31 October 1991 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Shabab Al Ahli F 24 Mahmoud Alsawan 23 – (2000-09-17)17 September 2000 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Sharjah F 77 Abdulaziz Ahmad 19 – (2004-04-21)21 April 2004 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Al Wasl	Head coach Mounir Ben Slimane Assistant coach(es) Jassim Alblooshi Salem Aldhaheri Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 23 February 2024

• Mounir Ben Slimane – (2005–2009)
• Zoran Zubčević – (2010–2015)
• Mounir Ben Slimane – (2016–present)

2011 FIBA Asia Cup: finished 10th among 16 teams^[8]

United Arab Emirates men's national basketball team – 2011 FIBA Asia Cup roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. G 4 Jassim Haji 30 – (1981-03-22)22 March 1981 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) Shabab Al Ahli SG 5 Mohamed Albreiki 19 – (1991-12-21)21 December 1991 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) Shabab Al Ahli G/F 6 Ibrahim Ahmad 28 – (1983-09-12)12 September 1983 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Al Wasl G 7 Ibrahim Alsari 31 – (1980-07-04)4 July 1980 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) Al Nasr PG 8 Hussain Ahmed 22 – (1989-03-06)6 March 1989 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Shabab Al Ahli PG 9 Khalifa Salem 20 – (1991-08-25)25 August 1991 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Shabab Al Ahli F 10 Rashid Alali 21 – (1990-04-03)3 April 1990 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Sharjah G 11 Rashed Alzaabi 22 – (1988-10-19)19 October 1988 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Al Wasl F/C 12 Qais Alshabebi 19 – (1991-10-31)31 October 1991 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Shabab Al Ahli F 13 Malallah Banihammad 28 – (1983-06-18)18 June 1983 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Sharjah C 14 Ali Al Hattawi 31 – (1979-11-20)20 November 1979 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Shabab Al Ahli C 15 Jasim Abdalla 22 – (1988-11-24)24 November 1988 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) Sharjah	Head coach Zoran Zubčević Legend (C) Team captain Club – describes last club before the competition Age – describes age on 24 September 2011

• Sport in United Arab Emirates
• United Arab Emirates men's national under-18 basketball team
• United Arab Emirates men's national under-17 basketball team
• UAE National Basketball League

• Official website (in Arabic)
• UAE FIBA profile
• UAE National Team – Men at Asia-basket.com
• UAE Basketball Records at FIBA Archive