Professional basketball in Iraq … again
Eric Kibi played for professional clubs in 15 countries on 5 continents during his 13 years of pro hoops. For this edition of Basketball Globetrotter he takes us to Iraq ... again.
Eric Kibi played for professional clubs in 15 countries on 5 continents during his 13 years of pro hoops. For this edition of Basketball Globetrotter he takes us to Iraq ... again.
As kids when we start dribbling a basketball in our back yards or in our local parks we all dream of playing in 20,000-seat NBA arenas with thousands of fans screaming our name while hitting a fade away game winner like Kobe used to do.
Never in a million years would we imagine playing a professional basketball game in an empty Al-Shaab National arena in Baghdad.
This became my reality in 2019. And here I am back again for a second stint six years later in 2025.
First stint in Iraq in 2019
My journey in Iraq started in January 2019.
After starting the season in France, I received a lucrative offer to play for Al-Minaa Sports club in a city called Basra. At the time the only thing I knew about Iraq were the negative things that were shown on television. I truly had to educate myself before making this decision to go play in a country that has been historically torn apart by war.
After much thought and consideration I decided to accept the offer and I was on my way to Iraq.
In 2019, the Iraqi professional league SuperLeague had only recently started to allow teams to sign foreign professional players from abroad. The concept of having American professional players was still fairly new in Iraq.
Recently the league has become more and more popular among former NBA players and high level European players because of the lucrative salaries that are offered.
Nightmare first day
Unfortunately my first day in Iraq was a complete nightmare. Upon arriving in Iraq from Istanbul, Türkiye, I was refused entry into the country because of visa issues. After being held for six hours by the authorities at the airport I was sent on a flight back to Istanbul.
To my surprise things got better from that point. Thankfully my club was very professional and really wanted me to be part of the club. They placed me in a five-star hotel in Istanbul and handled all the administrative issues and I was back in Basra within a few days ready to integrate my new team.
Overall, my first experience in Iraq was very eye-opening. After playing most of my career in Europe, it was truly a big adjustment to arrive in what you can consider a third world country. In these first world European countries you can consider your self spoiled. You have beautiful apartments, cars, meals and arenas that are offered by the majority of the clubs.
My reality in Basra became that I now had a personal driver; I was living in a hotel; and my meals were delivered daily to my hotel room because it was unsafe to venture out in the city on my own. This was my daily routine for the next six months.
For six months other than the two to three hours I spent training, the rest of my time was spent in my hotel room - every day. When you add consistent late payments and adjustment to a fully Islamic culture this made for a very lonely and tricky situation to navigate through.
Personally the Islamic culture is a culture that has always interested me and being in this situation forced me to learn even more. This started with going through Ramadan with my teammates. Playing during Ramadan in the Middle East is a life experience you would never expect. For example, due to my teammates’ fasting hours, practice and games were pushed back throughout the whole month to 11pm. This was a difficult adjustment, but it made me gain so much respect and appreciation for the discipline my teammates had during this sacred month.
The human interaction with my peers, fans, teammates and coaches is the one aspect about Iraq that I can say pleasantly surprised me.
As humans when we are in our comfort zone we fail to realize how important daily human interaction is, whether it is the lack thereof or integrating a new culture. In terms of that, what I can say is this forces deep soul searching that creates human growth. You start to learn things about yourself that you might have otherwise never learned. You are forced to integrate and learn about a new culture and society that you had previously no knowledge about, and this is where growth happens.
One thing I want to make clear about in Iraq is: it is absolutely not like what you see on TV. Of course the country has been torn apart by war and years of suffering under the Sadam Hussein reign. A lot of areas have not been rebuilt yet, but there are still beautiful places in Iraq and Kurdistan. Also at this current time what a lot of people don’t know is Iraq is one of the safest countries in the Middle East.
I’m back
Here we are now six years later in 2025 and I am back in Iraq.
In terms of things that have changed since 2019. The Superleague has drawn bigger names because of the higher salaries they dish out. The league has developed a bigger media presence as well, and is commercialized more on the basketball scene.
After playing with Al Minaa in 2019, this time around I signed a contract with newly promoted Darbandikhan Sports Club in October 2024. Darbandikhan is located in the Kurdistan region of Iraq close to Türkiye.
Despite the constitutional recognition of the Kurdistan region as a federal region in the Republic of Iraq, relations between the two have grown very tense in recent years due to power-sharing issues and the export of oil.
Similar to the problems in the region, I arrived to the club in a very tense situation. At the time of my arrival the club was already 0-7 and on its third coach. The fans and the small city of Darbandikhan had grown very irritated with club management and its players. The pressure was on!
Despite all of this, the people of Darbandikhan - home to about 17,000 residents - welcomed me with open arms and showered me with a lot of love. Despite the arrival of myself, two other foreigners and a new coach with national team experience, we were not able to stop the losing streak and the worst had yet to come.
During the early parts of December 2024, it seemed like the team was making progress. We were losing very close games to top teams, and it felt like our first win was finally coming. Unfortunately on December 18th, in a nationally televised game at home we faced the most famous club in Iraq, the Iraqi Police club. This was the day that drastically changed the rich history of Darbandikhan Basketball. We ended up losing the game by 40 points, which if you compared the rosters, it wasn’t much of a surprise. But the compete level from the team as a whole just was not there.
The next morning as always we expected to have training. Unfortunately right after the game the Darbandikhan club president had decided to withdraw the team from the the Iraqi League. This came as a shock to all of us, especially us three foreigners who earn a living playing this game. We were now left jobless right before Christmas.
The withdrawal of the club also meant an automatic three-year ban from the basketball federation which would affect all basketball programs within the club, youth included. This is something that was very unfortunate for all the young players in the small town who looked up to us and also dreamt of playing in the Iraqi league one day.
As in most Middle East countries, the payment schedule can be very slow and this situation in Iraq was no different. And to make matters worse my Iraqi visa was expiring in just a few days.
This is where overseas basketball has its complete ups and downs.
Throughout my two months in Darbandikhan, although the team results were not there, my individual numbers were very good. For two days I was scrambling and trying to figure out what my next move was. The club left us with no salary, no more free meals, no visa, no flights home, no communication. Fortunately on December 24th, Al Hillah Sports Club - a team in the playoff picture, whom we had face a few weeks prior - contacted my agent and offered me a contract.
When we say God works in mysterious ways, I truly believe this.
Due to my expiring visa, I had to travel outside of Kurdistan before December 26th. Therefore I had one day to pack up my apartment in Darbandikhan and travel to my new club in Hillah, which was a few hours outside of Baghdad.
The club sent me a private driver, and I spent my Christmas Day travelling 11 hours in a car. This is overseas basketball for you!
In closing, my time in Hillah has been much better than my previous club. We have qualified for the playoffs and are currently preparing for the post-season. Unfortunately the president at Darbandikhan Sports Club has still refused to pay my salary and has blocked me on every communication channel. A frustrating outcome for a club I gave everything to, but I truly believe everything happens for a reason. As globetrotter basketballs would say: charge it to the game.
The Journey continues!
Eric Kibi - The Basketball Globetrotter
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