Syrian Basketball National Team Signs American Coach Joseph Stepping

The Syrian Basketball Federation announced on Tuesday evening the signing of American coach Joseph Stepping to take over the coaching duties of the men's national team, in preparation for the participation in the 2025 Asia Cup finals to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia next August, as well as leading the team in the 2027 World Cup qualifiers.

The signing of Stepping comes as a replacement for the national coach Haitham Jameel, who successfully led the team to qualify for the Asian finals before his duties ended at the conclusion of the previous preparation phase.

It is expected that the American coach will officially start his duties after the end of the final round matches of the professional basketball league in Syria.

Joseph Stepping has an extensive coaching background, having previously coached the national teams of Jordan and Qatar in the World Cup, as well as overseeing the training of several Gulf clubs, which enhances the hopes of the Syrian team to achieve positive results in the upcoming phase.

It is worth mentioning that the Syrian national team was drawn into Group 3 in the Asian finals alongside Japan, Iran, and Guam.

The team was eliminated in the quarter-finals in the previous edition of the tournament after losing to the New Zealand team.