AfroBasket Qualifiers - One month to go
Before the AfroBasket Qualifiers begin, teams have been busy with recruitment of (new) coaches, pre-selecting players for training camp and ensure the two-day actions in Tunisia and Cairo go accordingly.
ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - It'll be twelve days after Africa crown its new AFCON champion before fans shift their focus to basketball with the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket Qualifiers expected to attract followers from all corners of the continent.
The 20-nation race to next year's AfroBasket begins with Window 1 on February 23 when teams in Groups B, D and E take to the floor in Egypt and Tunisia. The other eight teams in Group A and C will enter the race in Window 2 in November.
To qualify to the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket teams must finish in the top three places of each group which will be played over two rounds.
The final two Windows (3 and 4) of the AfroBasket Qualifiers will take place in February 2025.
But before the AfroBasket Qualifiers begin, teams have been busy with recruitment of (new) coaches, pre-selecting players for training camp and ensure the two-day actions in Hammamet (Tunisia) and Cairo (Egypt) go according to plan.
2021 AfroBasket runners-up Cote d'Ivoire, for instance, have re-signed Spaniard Natxo Lezkano as head coach of the Elephants.
Lezkano, who returns to the helm of the former African champions for the fourth time, played a major role in the Ivorians' qualification to the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, before his unconventional abrupt departure.
The Ivorians aren't the only ones making changes to their coaching staff.
Reigning African champions Tunisia have signed Frenchman Mehdy Mary, who took over from Mario Palma.
Mary has become the third coach to lead the three-time African champions since Dirk Bauermann inspired Tunisia to the 2021 AfroBasket in Rwanda.
Turkish Erman Kunter took over from Bauermann after a disastrous 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers, although he quit soon after.
Palma led Tunisia in the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Nigeria, where they finished 0-2 before Mary accepted the job offer.
Egypt changed their coaching staff too as Henrik Rodl replaced Roy Rana at the Pharaohs.
As they prepare to take on Libya on Zone 1's AfroBasket Pre-Qualifiers, Morocco signed Spaniard Gustavo Aranza Mendez as a replacement of Labib El Hamrani who led his country to the 2023 FIBA AfroCan title in Angola.
Teams were drawn as follows:
GROUP A (November 2024)
South Sudan
DR Congo
Mali
Winner of Zone 6 Pre-Qualifiers
GROUP B (February 2024)
Cape Verde
Nigeria
Uganda
Winner of Zones 1+2 Pre-Qualifiers
GROUP C (November 2024)
Senegal
Cameroon
Rwanda
Winner of Zones 3+4
GROUP D (February 2024)
Cote d'Ivoire
Egypt
Central African Republic
Madagascar
GROUP F (February 2024)
Tunisia
Angola
Guinea
Kenya
FIBA