6 hours ago
The 2025 National Muslim Basketball Tournament happening in Schaumburg starting Thursday
The National Muslim Basketball Tournament is taking place in the Chicago area this weekend
More than 600 Muslim athletes will come together for four days of competitive games.
This year's Midwest regional is happening at the Schaumburg Park District Sport Center.
Haroon Saadeh with One Athletics, who is hosting the competition, said the games expanded to four days instead of three to accommodate more participating teams.
"Last year we had 60 teams as well, typically we have 30 to 40, and the interest has grown," he said. "We introduced the youth basketball league divisions, so that definitely helped a lot more teams get registered."
The tournament will feature eight divisions, including 11, 13, 15, and 17 U, a men's elite division, two girls divisions, 13 and 17 U, and a vets division for those 35 and older.
Saadeh said the money raised from this weekend will be donated toward Gaza relief.
"The reason why we're doing this this year, and the last couple years, is raising funds for, you know, for what's happening over there. So we're actually donating all our funds and proceeds through Human Development Fund, which is our main sponsor for the tournament. So there are they are definitely our charity of choice. All the money that we make during the weekend, which is basically through team registrations, is donated to Gaza," he said.
The tournament kicks off Thursday. Registration for the event has closed.
The Final Four teams in the Elite Division will be invited to the championship.
