ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - Five national teams have qualified automatically for the 2023 FIBA Women's AfroBasket, but seven others will battle it out across the continent over the next few months to advance to the biennial event. 

This article brings you things that you need to know about the 2023 Women's AfroBasket Qualifiers.

Three-time defending champions Nigeria, Mali, Cameroon, and Senegal have secured their places the Final Round by virtue of reaching the Semi-Finals of the 2021 Women's AfroBasket in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Rwanda will be granted a place in the Championship as host country.

From all corners of Africa, most of the seven FIBA Africa Zones are expected to host regional qualifiers over the next few months.

Below are FIBA Africa's Sub-Zones. 

Zone 1: Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. 

Zone 2: Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

Zone 3: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.

Zone 4: Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe.

Zone 5: Burundi, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. 

Zone 6: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini , Zambia and Zimbabwe. 

Zone 7: Comoros, Djibouti, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles.

And some national teams are currently gearing up to attempt to reach the 2023 FIBA Women's AfroBasket, which will serve as a qualifier for the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments for Paris 2024. 

WHEN ARE THE QUALIFIERS TAKING PLACE?

The 2023 Women's AfroBasket Qualifiers get underway in February and are expected to finish in June before the Final Round in July in Kigali, Rwanda.

WHERE ARE THE QUALIFIERS TAKING PLACE?

The first teams to open their plight for a place in the 12-nation Women's AfroBasket will gather in Kampala, Uganda for FIBA Africa Zone 5 qualifiers.

From February 14-19, hosts Uganda, Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan will do battle for the only spot on offer for the Final Round.

In the Southern part of Africa, Zimbabwe will host FIBA Africa Zone 6's Qualifiers from February 20-28 with participating teams including hosts Zimbabwe, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.

HOW TO WATCH THE GAMES?

All games will be streamed live on FIBA's Youtube Channel.

WHAT'S AT STAKE

Not only will the teams compete for their places in the 2023 Women's AfroBasket, but they will also try to reach the 2024 Paris Olympics.

QUALIFIERS BACKGROUND

Kenya, the current Zone 5 title holders, and Egypt represented Zone 5 in the 2021 Women's AfroBasket.

Two years ago, in Kigali, Kenya booked their ticket to a second straight FIBA Women's AfroBasket and seventh overall when they defeated favourites Egypt 99-83. 

However, in the Final Round in Yaounde, Egypt finished sixth after winning three of their six games. Egypt were denied a place in the Semi-Finals after a 67-61 loss to hosts Cameroon. Kenya, on the other hand, finished ninth.

Two tickets are on offer for Zone 6 for the Final Round. In Kampala, the winner will qualify automatically for the Final Round.

Former African champions Angola and Mozambique represented the Zone in the last edition of the Women's AfroBasket.

The schedule and host countries of the remaining FIBA Africa Zones will be announced at a later date.

FIBA