US Monastir (basketball)

Union Sportive Monastirienne (الاتحاد الرياضي المنستيري‎), commonly known as US Monastir, is a Tunisian professional basketball club based in Monastir. Established in 1959, the team plays in the Pro A the first division league in Tunisia and has won seven national championships. Monastir also plays in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) since the inaugural season in 2021. Home games are played in the Mohamed-Mzali Sports Hall.

US Monastir has won nine Tunisian Leagues and four Tunisian Cups. Monastir won the BAL championship in 2022, becoming the first Tunisian team to win the competition.

History
The club was established in 1959 and won its first Tunisian League title in 1998 after defeating Ezzahra Sports in the league finals. As the national champions, Monastir played in the Arab Club Basketball Championship where it lost all three group stage games.

In the 1999–2000 season, Monastir won its first-ever double after winning both the league and cup title. Monastir beat Club Africain in the league final and Ezzahra in the cup final (66–61). In 2005, Monastir won its third Tunisian championship, defeating Stade Nabeulien 66–51.

The first international title for Monastir arrived in 2012, when they won the Maghreb Basketball Championship after defeating ES Radès in the final.

In 2014, Monastir made its debut in the FIBA Africa Club Championship, Africa's top continental league, for the first time. In 2017, the club ended at third place in the continental league.

In 2019, Monastir won its fourth Tunisian championship defeating ES Rades. again in 2020 US Monastir won its fifth Tunisian championship and the second in row defeating the same ES Rades. In 2021, Monastir defeated Ezzahra Sports in the Tunisian finals and won its sixth championship, and the third in a row.

In 2021, Monastir was one of the twelve teams to play in the new Basketball Africa League (BAL) as they qualified as Tunisian national champions. In the inaugural season of the league, Monastir reached the Finals where it lost to Zamalek despite being favourites in the competition. Three players of Monastir (Omar Abada, Makrem Ben Romdhane and Wael Arakji) were named to the All-BAL First Team.

In the following season, the 2021–22 season, Monastir won the national double after capturing the CNA and Tunisian Cup titles. On 28 May 2022, Monastir won its first-ever BAL and African championship after defeating Petro de Luanda in the 2022 BAL Finals, becoming the first Tunisian team to win the BAL. Point guard Michael Dixon was named the league's MVP; Ater Majok and Radhouane Slimane were named to the All-BAL First Team. Representing the African continent, Monastir played in the 2023 edition of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, where it finished in fourth place after losing to the Spanish team CB Canarias and the American team Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

In the 2023 BAL season, Monastir brought back coach Perišić three days before the tournament. However, Monastir was unable to qualify for the playoffs as the team ended with a 3–2 record and was ranked fifth based on a tiebreaker.

Monastir began the 2023–24 season with Adel Tlatli as head coach, but hired Mohamed Kardani in April 2024.

Arenas
Since its opening in 2006, Monastir plays its home games in the Mohamed-Mzali Sports Hall, which has a capacity of 4,075–5,000 people.

Past rosters

 * 2021 BAL season
 * 2022 BAL season
 * 2023 BAL season

Notable players
• 🇹🇳 Omar Abada (2 seasons: '19–'21)

• 🇹🇳 Makrem Ben Romdhane (1 season: '20–'21)

• 🇹🇳 Radhouane Slimane (3 seasons: '14, '20-)

• 🇹🇳 Michael Roll (1 season: '23)

• 🇱🇧 Wael Arakji (1 season: '21)

• 🇰🇪 Tom Wamukota (1 season: '19-'20)

• Walter Hodge (1 season: '20)

• 🇸🇸 Ater Majok (2 seasons: '20-'22)

• 🇨🇮 Solo Diabate (1 season: '21-'22)

Individual awards
• Tunisian Cup MVP

• Firas Lahyani – 2017

• Omar Abada – 2020, 2021

• Radhouane Slimane – 2022

• Oussama Marnaoui – 2023

• All-BAL First Team

• Omar Abada – 2021

• Wael Arakji – 2021

• Makrem Ben Romdhane – 2021

• Radhouane Slimane – 2022

• Ater Majok – 2022

• BAL Defensive Player of the Year

• Ater Majok – 2022

• BAL All-Defensive Team

• Ater Majok – 2022

• BAL Sportsmanship Award

• Makrem Ben Romdhane – 2021

Leagues

 * Championnat Pro A
 * Champions (9): 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2004–05, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
 * Runner-up (1): 2017–18

Cups

 * Tunisian Cup
 * Champions (5): 2000, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
 * Runner-up (9): 1992, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019


 * Tunisian Supercup
 * Runner-up (1): 2005


 * Tunisian Federation Cup
 * Champion (1): 2012

International competitions

 * Basketball Africa League
 * Champion (1): 2022
 * Runner-up (1): 2021


 * FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup
 * Third place (1): 2017


 * Arab Club Basketball Championship 
 * Third place (1): 2019


 * Maghreb Championship
 * Champion (1): 2012


 * FIBA Intercontinental Cup
 * Fourth Place (1): 2023

Head coaches
The following people have been head coach of US Monastir (since 2009):

• 🇹🇳 Adel Tlatli (1991–1993)

• 🇹🇳 Adel Tlatli (1994–1995)

• 🇷🇴 Costel Cernat (2009)

• 🇹🇳 Walid Gharbi

• 🇹🇳 Safouane Ferjani

• 🇹🇳 Monoom Aoun (2015–2016)

• George Ketselidis (2016–2017)

• 🇷🇸 Željko Zečević (2017–2018)

• 🇹🇳 Ridha Labidi (2018)

• 🇲🇦 Said El Bouzidi (2018–2019)

• 🇷🇸 Miodrag Perišić (2019–2020)

• 🇹🇳 Walid Zrida (2020)

• 🇹🇳 Safouane Ferjani (2020–2021)

• 🇹🇳 Mounir Ben Slimane (2021)

• 🇷🇸 Toni Vujanic (2021–2022)

• 🇷🇸 Miodrag Perišić (2022)

• 🇹🇳 Marouan Kechrid (2022)

• 🇨🇾 Linos Gavriel (2022–?)

• 🇷🇸 Miodrag Perišić (2023)

• 🇷🇸 Miloš Gligorijević (2023)

• 🇹🇳 Adel Tlatli (2023–2024)

• 🇪🇬 Mohamed Kardani (2024–present)