ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - The camp of the Ivorian team is welcoming the return of Souleyman Diabate for the important Window 4 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers in Abidjan.

Diabate sat out the last qualifying window in his hometown of Abidjan.

At 35, he is arguably the most experienced player within the Elephants squad and with matchup against Nigeria just hours away, Diabate remains confident that the winning streak that Cote d'Ivoire has sustained will be a big advantage to his side.

He told FIBA.basketball ahead of the Group E games that he is back to the team for good. "While I was away, I trusted that my colleagues to do the job and they did not disappoint. Nigeria is our first game and surely going to be the hardest but I am confident that we have a great team and I trust they will be up to the task."

Though, he admits Nigeria have a good group of players, but he says that for the last two years, Cote d'Ivoire have been consistent winning all their games and that is a huge motivation for the team. 

"We are ready mentally and otherwise. I am sure we will give a good account of ourselves against Nigeria playing good defence and always finding a way to score."

Diabate recalls the agonizing wait that Cote d'Ivoire had to endure to grab a ticket to the World Cup 2019 in China and says the team is not ready to have a repeat of that experience.

"We don't want any of that experience of 2019. We want to get our qualification in good time. We have won six games with six left. In this Window, our target is win all three games which takes us closer to the mark. In fact, we want the job done here and not wait for the last minute."

This will be the third encounter between Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria in the World Cup Qualifiers, with each team winning one apiece; both previous matchups ended with a differential higher than 10 points.

Cote d’Ivoire have won their six games in the 2023 World Cup qualifiers, conceding fewer than 75 points in each of those games.

In fact, they have won their last 11 games in the African Qualifiers, the longest winning sequence of any team in all regions in the competition, but their last defeat came against Nigeria, in September 2018 (73-84).

However, Cote d'Ivoire recorded a huge win in Abidjan against Nigeria 72-46 in the last Window of the World Cup African Qualifiers back in 2019.

Nigeria have won three of their five games in the 2023 World Cup qualifiers: they have lost the opening game in each of the three last qualifying windows in the African qualifiers and will be careful not to allow the trend to continue.

Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria are the two teams to have scored the most points per game in the paint in the African region in the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers: Cote d’Ivoire are averaging 34.3 points while Nigeria tally 32.8 per game.

With Nigeria remaining the Number One team in Africa going by the World ranking and Cote d'Ivoire at number 5, this encounter is sure to bring all the excitement it can muster and Diabate is all set for action.

FIBA