Egypt’s recent history cannot be understood without examining its progress over the last decade.
From 2014 to 2022, Egypt rose from 14th to 4th in the FIBA Africa rankings. This year, they will head to the African Championship at No. 5.
Since returning in 2013 after an absence of more than a decade, the Pharaohs have become a regular fixture in the Women’s AfroBasket tournament.
Along the way, they have experienced ups and downs, causing major upsets.
The more remarkable fact about Egypt is that, regardless of their tournament outcome, they have only missed one quarterfinal appearance. This setback occurred two years ago in Kigali, Rwanda, where they finished with a 1–2 win–loss record and failed to advance to the quarterfinal round.
Their best outing was a sixth-place achieved in the 2021 edition of Women’s AfroBasket in Yaounde, Cameroon.
Over the last six Women’s AfroBasket editions, Egypt has accrued a 15–24 win–loss record.
They remain one of the most unpredictable teams on the continent. However, they no longer lose by large margins against powerhouses like Nigeria, Senegal, and Mali. They can compete. Since 2015, they have beaten two-time African champions Angola twice.
Underestimating Egypt would be a mistake.
Egypt has also counted on some of the most talented players on the continent.
Soraya Degheidy, who may miss her first Women’s AfroBasket since 2015, as well as Nadine Mohamed, Raneen Elgedawy, Menatalla Awad, Reem Moussa, and Hagar Amer, have made names for themselves across Africa. They have lifted Egypt from obscurity to becoming a team to be reckoned with.
However, a new group of young players, most of whom played college basketball in the US, is making its way into Egypt’s rotation. Meral Abdelgawad, Jana Sallman, and Jana El Alfy are poised to play major roles when Egypt takes on Group A opponents Angola and Côte d'Ivoire. These are two teams with which Egypt is very familiar.
Egypt has been a dominant force in Africa's Zone 5 region for years.
However, they found themselves in unfamiliar territory earlier this year when they lost to Uganda at home in the Zone 5 qualifier final in Cairo, despite having beaten the Gazelles in the group phase..
Nevertheless, Egypt was able to join the 12-nation Women's AfroBasket tournament thanks to a FIBA Africa wildcard. The tournament will be held from July 26 to August 3 at Palais Treichville in Abidjan.
Julian Martinez, a Spaniard who coached Mozambique at the 2019 Women's AfroBasket and has had a number of club stints across Africa, is now the man at the helm.
He replaced Amr Elmaraghy who led Egypt to a 4-1 in the qualifiers in February.
FIBA