ABIDJAN (Cote d’Ivoire) – With a perfect 3-0 record in the Road to BAL Group B, Jeunesse Club d’Abidjan are set to remain a formidable opponent as they progress to the Elite 16 stage.
The quality of the other teams in the Elite 16 will either bring out the best in Jeunesse Club d’Abidjan or cause them to crumble.
Club history
In a brief interview with FIBA, team manager Carlo Viera detailed how the club came to be: 'JCA was founded in 2018 by Moussa Diarra and myself. The club's primary goal was to support young people in the Ivory Coast and develop basketball at a local level. The national team consistently achieved good results at continental level, but we encountered issues in the national championship, such as a lack of competition. ABC were national champions for almost twenty years in a row, so we decided that we needed a club to compete against them. Over the years, we have introduced a new organisation and staff, and made many other changes. We started involving players from outside the country, which was a new development in the local championship, and other clubs appreciated our approach. Our club helped raise the level of competition in the Ivory Coast. We lost to ABC three times, but we learned from these losses. Two years ago, we won the National Cup, the first title in the club's history. Fast forward to last year, and we won the double: the National Cup and the league title."
Coach
The team is currently under the guidance of Stéphane Konaté, a former Ivorian international who enjoyed success at both club and national team levels.
He also participated in the Road to BAL countless times. In 2024, Konate featured for ABC Fighters in the BAL season.
How they qualified
Though they enjoyed home support playing at the Palais des Sports de Treichville, they left no one in doubt as to their determination to win and make an impact, defeating Spintex Knights 73-66, ELAN Coton 69-39 and LPRC 76-47 to show they were capable of upsetting the bookmakers as they progress.
Key players
Ulrich Kra: He is the team captain and a formidable presence in defence, bringing intensity to the team. As a guard, he is strategic in his play and a reliable scorer for the team. In the game against the Spintex Knights, the 33-year-old scored 19 points.
His capacity is evident from his total of 56 points and 11 steals from three games, averaging 18.7. He played for ABC in 2019, 2022 and 2023, as well as for SOA in 2021.
Mahamane Coulibaly hails from Mali and plays as a small forward. As well as featuring for JCA, he has also played for his national team.
In three games, he scored a total of 31 points, had 16 rebounds and made eight assists, achieving a scoring average of 10.3.
Mike Yayo is known for his scoring ability and has consistently achieved double figures. He combines well with team captain Ulrich Kra and Mahamane Coulibaly. In three games, he has scored a total of 27 points, averaging 9.0 per game.
Babatunde William is an important contributor to the team and always makes his presence felt. He scored 24 points, had 24 rebounds and made 8 assists in three games, playing for 51:12 of the 120 minutes. He averages 8.0 points per game.
Road to BAL history
Jeunesse Club d’Abidjan made their debut in the Road To BAL Group B in Abidjan. They picked three straight games to assert themselves as a team other opponents must be weary of. The only team that gave them any sort of contest was the Spintex Knights of Ghana in a 73-66 game.
However, JCA will need to work on its ball handling and cut down on turnovers. In their 3 games in Group B of the Road To BAL, they had a total of 71 turnovers, a situation they may not be able to come out from if their opponents take a strong advantage of.
FIBA