LEEDS (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - The FIBA AfroBasket 2021 Qualifiers won't start until November, but from what I saw in the latest pre-qualifiers in Nairobi and Algiers I anticipate a new era in the history of the game in Africa.

NOTE: The initially-scheduled February 2020 qualifying window has been halted.

The new model of qualification for the continent's elite basketball tournament is part of FIBA's new competition system, which took effect in November 2017 and basketball in Africa has never been the same again.

The 16-team FIBA AfroBasket 2021 will take place in Kigali, Rwanda. It'll be the first major tournament in the East Africa in decades.

Unlike previous experiences - where top-ranked teams qualified automatically to the FIBA AfroBasket - all teams regardless of their rankings and status on the continent, go through to the qualification process. It aims to take high-level of basketball to all corners of the continent as we have seen so far.

Today's column is dedicated to what we learned from the latest AfroBasket 2021 Pre-Qualifiers.

ERITREA

Who would have thought that Eritrea would bother to join the qualification process before?

They showed up, and although they lost all five games, Eritreans made their country's name heard in the African basketball bonanza. 

SOUTH SUDAN

South Sudan may have lost to hosts Kenya - after winning four games in a row - in the final day of the Group D of the qualifiers in Nairobi, but they sent a message to the rest of the continent.

With talented players like Teny Puot and new federation board led by former NBA player and Great Britain Olympian Luol Deng the future of the game in Africa's newest country is brighter than ever before.

KENYA

I have always known Kenyans' passion about basketball, and last week's qualifiers gave them a chance to watch their men's national team live on their home country for the first time in 27 years. Most of the 'Morans' weren't even born when their country hosted the FIBA AfroBasket 1993.

With the win of Group D of the pre-qualifiers, Kenya joined Senegal, Angola and Mozambique in Group B, whose first round action takes place in November.

Up North, in a two-game elimination Algeria prevailed over Cape Verde, and they have now a chance to return to the AfroBasket for the first time since 2015. They will play Nigeria, Mali and Rwanda in Group D. 

Algeria won the series 116-163 on aggregate but Cape Verde returned home with their heads held high.

The Pre-Qualifiers resume this week in Harare with Madagascar, Zimbabwe and Zambia trying to secure the only ticket on offer for the Qualifiers Final Round.

It's a shame that quality teams such as South Sudan and Cape Verde won't be participating in the FIBA AfroBasket 2021 Qualifiers, but surely this will be an unmissable event. 

Julio Chitunda
FIBA

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