ABIDJAN (Côte d'Ivoire) - For a variety of reasons, the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers has been hailed as an event that completely changed the narrative and landscape of the game in Africa.
The event took place from November 2021 to February 2023 and visited eight African countries.
Eventually, two unexpected teams joined the 32 nations competing in the World Cup in the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.
If you want to relive the unforgettable moments of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers, read on.
First Angola's home loss in decades
The 2023 World Cup African qualifiers could not have got off to a more remarkable start, with Côte d'Ivoire travelling to the Angolan city of Benguela and achieving what has been described as the biggest upset in African basketball in the last four decades.
With a Maxence Dadiet tap in the last five seconds of the game, Côte d'Ivoire beat Angola 57–56, entering the history books as the first team to beat Angola in Angola — an unthinkable event in the 1990s and early 2000s.
South Sudan hit No.1 status in Africa
South Sudan made history by becoming the first team in African basketball to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup on their first attempt, achieving an impressive 11-1 record.
Having been relatively unknown back in 2017, South Sudan have defied the odds to become one of the strongest contenders to secure one of the five tickets available for African teams at the 2023 World Cup.
Seven months after losing to eventual 2021 AfroBasket champions Tunisia in the Quarter-Finals, South Sudan shocked the African basketball landscape by beating Tunisia in Dakar. It was just the started of a historical World Cup African Qualifiers campaign .
Cape Verde becomes smallest country to qualify for the World Cup
The insiders of Cape Verde made history by becoming the smallest nation to ever qualify for a World Cup as well, beating the record that was previously set by Montenegro in World Cup 2019.
Amr El Gendy sets a scoring record
The Egyptian shooting guard Amr ElGendy shot 14-for-25 from the floor, including 6-for-12 from deep, to set a new tournament record of 42 points in a game in a 97-77 loss to South Sudan.
The previous scoring record for the FIBA World Cup African Qualifiers had been set by Jordan Nwora of Nigeria, who finished with 36 points in a 93–53 rout of Mali.
Narrow wins margin
Of the 78 African Qualifiers games for the 2023 World Cup, 28 were decided by a margin of fewer than 10 points, demonstrating the balance of the competition.
Sara Gamal
Gamal wrote another breakthrough chapter in her career after becoming the first African female referee to officiate at a 3x3 basketball game at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She then became the first female official in Africa to take charge of a FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers game.
She was one of the trio of officials handling the Cameroon vs Tunisia game, as well as the Rwanda vs Tunisia game in Window 2 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers.
Kuminga debuts for the DR Congo
The Golden State Warriors player, who is undoubtedly talented, had always dreamed of representing his native Democratic Republic of the Congo on the international stage. When the opportunity arose, he received the best advice possible.
In an interview with FIBA.basketball, Kuminga said: 'Serge Ibaka, one of my good friends and a big brother, helped me. He asked, ' 'Are you going to play for your national team?' That will be good for you. I also spoke to Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala, and they were all happy for me. They said, "It's great! It's a big moment for you to play for your national team."
Rebounding record
Senegal center Youssou Ndoye set a World Cup African Qualifiers record for most rebounds in a game after grabbing 20 rebounds in 75-57 win over Egypt on February 25, 2022.
Small in size but big in heart
Angola point guard Childe Dundao made 6+ steals in two of his games in the World Cup Qualifiers to become the only African player with multiple games with that many steals in the African Qualifiers history.
Côte d'Ivoire
Although there were still three games left in the qualifiers, Côte d'Ivoire had already secured their place at the World Cup.
They had defeated two heavyweights — Angola and Nigeria — who had dominated African basketball in recent years.
Becoming the first African nation to qualify for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup undefeated (9-0) was a huge achievement for Côte d'Ivoire. They qualified with a 10–2 record.
FIBA