Under the floodlights at Mogadishu’s Wiish Stadium, Somali basketball returned to competitive action Saturday after more than 35 years, marking a significant step in the country’s sporting revival.
Dekedda SC won the eight-team tournament organised by the Somali Basketball Federation.
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The warm night in the capital brought players back onto a court that had been largely absent from Somalia’s competitive basketball landscape for decades.
Mogadishu Port’s Dekedda SC beat Heegan SC 80-64 to claim the 2026 General Daud Cup at Wiish Stadium.
The Dockers’ triumph concluded the eight-team competition and delivered a landmark moment for a sport working to recover from years of disruption.
The federation said competitive basketball had not been played at Wiish Stadium – one of Somalia’s most important sporting venues – for decades.
Somalia’s parliament speaker, Abdulkadir Mohamed Jama, attended the final and handed Dekedda SC the championship trophy following their victory.
Nighttime sporting
Mohamed Abduqadir Ali, the Minister of Youth and Sports, and Ambassador Mohamed Ali Nur, General Manager of Mogadishu Port, were also present, along with officials who helped organise the tournament.
For the players and fans gathered inside the arena, the event represented more than a 16-point victory. It restored a familiar feature of Mogadishu life: evening competition beneath floodlights, crowded stands and a major domestic trophy settled on the court.
The tournament was staged as the Somali Basketball Federation seeks to establish a sustainable domestic competition structure. The federation said organised domestic basketball had been largely absent for more than two years.
The final also reflected the competition’s international dimension. French and Kenyan officials served among the referees as Somalia works towards rejoining continental and global basketball competition.
Rebuilding national team
The federation is rebuilding the national team as well, seeking Somali-born players from the diaspora and widening the group of athletes available to represent the country.
Abdirahman “Koshin” Abditawab, secretary general of the Somali Basketball Federation, led the revival of nighttime basketball. Working with the federation’s president, officials and broader team, he helped turn the plan to restore evening games into a full tournament.
Clubs, referees, volunteers, security personnel, media teams and event partners each contributed to staging the competition.
The tournament took place amid improving security in Mogadishu, allowing supporters to attend an evening sporting event and basketball to reclaim a place in the city’s night-time life.
For a city long associated internationally with conflict and insecurity, the scene at Wiish Stadium presented a sharply different image: players competing for a national cup, fans filling the stands and basketball commanding attention after dark.
