BEIRUT (Lebanon) - It's going to be the start of another loaded FIBA WASL season ahead as the 2025-26 West Asia League opens shop this week in the Lebanese capital following a long anticipation.
Sagesse SC and Shahrdari Gorgan will raise the curtains on Wednesday night, with Al Riyadi opening their title defense bid the following night against Al Wahda SC as old-timers take the spotlight.
Both Sub-Zone Leagues will get in motion once these games get rolling, with many excited to see how the revamped WASL-West Asia competitions would turn out as it will be veering away from the usual.
A total of five teams will duke it out in a double round-robin Group Phase that runs until February 19, with the top four teams at the end set to advance the best-of-3 Semi-Finals for a chance to vie for the crown.
The no. 1 seed will face the fourth-ranked team, while the second and third-placed teams will comprise the other bracket.
For now, though, the attention is on Week 1 first and foremost, with Sagesse hoping to flip the narrative this time against a team that they haven't beaten in the pan-regional meet owned and operated by FIBA.
The two have met twice during the 2023-24 WASL-West Asia League Group Phase and Gorgan won on both occasions - first an 86-74 result in Ghazir and then an 81-68 triumph at home in Tehran.
But now, with plenty of different faces in their respective lineups, it would be interesting to see if the the two-time sub-zone runners-up would keep their mastery, or if the 2024 WASL silver winners can finally get one.
Al Riyadi, on the other hand, are looking to start off on a high, motivated to prove that they remain as formidable as they've been now that the team is entering its first WASL season without star guard Wael Arakji.
In case you don't know yet, the reigning WASL MVP has taken his act to Saudi Arabia to play for Al Ula Club and has since been competing over at the Gulf League, leaving many wondering how the Yellow Castle would fare.
That sure is a valid concern especially among the fans, given how integral Arakji was in their WASL-West Asia League 'three-peat' and, of course, in taking home - and repeating - the biggest prize of 'em all.
And that's why their first game won't just be simply to open their campaign, but a chance as well to show that everything is fine despite the departure of easily one of the best players in the continent today.
But they will try to do so against a team hungry for payback. The Syrian champions are coming into Beirut with a 0-2 record against Riyadi - losses which they absorbed also during the 2023-24 Group Phase.
Needless to say, they would want to change that, and that should add even more color to what we can all expect to be an exciting first week of the much awaited WASL-West Asia League.
For a more thorough look at the schedule, click here.
FIBA