This page include a brief description of Manama Basketball history, telling the clubs that were merged to form the team, and some other historical information.
The club's establishment date was referred to be the oldest of the clubs that are forming the team currently, which was Ferdousi Club back in the mid of June, 1946. Everyone was impressed with the performance of the Basketball team of the club, as they were displaying fine skills, of course then there was no official tournament organized by a governmental institution, the team's activities were based on friendly matches and small tournaments.
In the year 1956, another team appeared which was Ittifaq Club this team had some of Ferdousi Club's players joining them.
A year later the capital of Bahrain saw yet another team which was Taj Club this club was mainly interested in Football and social activities.
On the other side of the city, a club was formed by some other sportsmen, that was Shua'a Club in 1959, this club was formed by a few people and was considered as a minor institution compared to the others.
1975, saw the first move towards forming the union, when Taj Club & Shua'a Club merged to form Awal Club.
A couple of years afterwards, another move was accomplished, when Ittifaq Club rejoined Ferdousi Club after 11 years of their separation.
Since all those clubs were in almost the same region, and the teams' leaders and members were all closely related, a major reunion was announced.
1980 was the date set for that, a decision of forming a big club representing the people of the capital of Bahrain, Manama Club was formed. A club that later, as it was before, became a symbol of Bahrain's civilization, being active in supporting the youth and sport in our beloved country.
The Basketball squad in the club was always a part in the race for the championships. However, the club didn't win much as Muharraq club and later Ahli club were the dominators.
1989/1990 saw Manama Basketball win their first league title Since 1978 when Shua'a Won the title, after defeating Ahli in the last game of that season, Manama were down till the last seconds, when Abdulla Jassim scored the long ranged three pointer to tie the score, in overtime it was total domination for Manama, securing the win to tie the Manama & Ahli records in that season. The BBA (Bahrain Basketball Association) decided that a decisive match is to be played. That of which Manama has won to clinch their first league title in the history of the club after 43 years of the club's establishment, and breaking the 11 consecutive years domination of Ahli.
On the juniors' level Manama won a number of championships over the years.
The most important moment in the club's history, was winning the GCC champions cup, which was held in Bahrain in 1994. The tournament saw Manama (BAH), Hilal (KSA), Wehda (UAE), Oman (OMN), Qadsiya (KUW) and Qatar (QTR). Manama defeated all the teams but the championship match came against Hilal. Hilal were favorites to win the tournament and their game against Manama was to decide whether they or Manama are to win it. The championship had a great atmosphere with Juffair Dome filled to its capacity all along the championship. Hilal's main concern were the supporters, they really couldn't keep their calm as Manama's supporters roared and cheered their team to winning. However, Hilal managed to keep the game close, in fact they were in the lead till the last 7 seconds when Nooh Najaf took the in bounded pass dribbled a couple of times and released the ball from the court's starting's tip off position, and nailing in the three to tie the score. In Overtime Manama took control of the match taking it to the safe side, to win the title for the first time.
Manama came close to winning the GCC title a number of time lately but unfortunately, they were coming second and third. GCC Results.
Another historical moment has happened lately in the 11th Asian Champions Cup (Ghazeer-Lebanon). Manama clinched the third place in that tournament, losing to Lebanon's Saggese in the semi finals due to obvious referees' wrong calls. Manama however defeated Qadsiya from Kuwait in the 3rd place playoff. This was Manama's first participation in such tournament.
Manama has now broken the record held by Ahli, and that was winning 10 League titles in the year 2001, as we won the 11th league title.
History repeated itself, when Manama won the GCC title for the second time in 2001. Bahrain was where it was held and the story of the first title happened again.