ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - There are 20 days until the 2026 FIBA U18 AfroBasket.
Scheduled for 5-16 August in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the tournament is back in West Africa for the first time since 2018 when Mali hosted it in their capital city of Bamako.
Eight teams have already secured their places at the biennial tournament, with the other four places to be determined through zonal qualifiers.
Hosts Côte d’Ivoire are joined by Mali, Cameroon, Senegal, and Morocco, who qualified as semifinalists from the previous tournament held in Pretoria, South Africa.
Chad, who powered through the Zone 4 qualifiers, Nigeria, who dominated the Zone 3 qualifiers, and Tunisia, who battled to the Zone 1’s solo ticket, are the teams that have already secured their places via zonal qualifiers.
The representatives for Zone 2, Zone 5, Zone 6, and Zone 7 are yet to be determined, with the respective zonal qualifiers to be played this month.
The Zone 2 qualifier will be held in Conakry, Guinea (17-19 July). The Zone 5 qualifier will take place from July 23-29 in Cairo. The schedule and host for the remaining qualifiers have yet to be determined.
The 2026 U18 AfroBasket will also serve as a qualifier for the 2027 FIBA U19 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The winner and runners-up will qualify for the global showpiece that will be hosted in Pardubice, Czechia.
Mali have won three of the last five U18 AfroBasket tournaments in 2018, 2020 and 2024. Angola claimed the 2016 title in Kigali while Egypt were the 2022 champions.
FIBA