Kinshasa, January 21st, 2023 (CPA) – Angola and Egypt have been selected as the two host countries of the last window of the Africa Zone qualifiers of the Basketball World Cup, organised by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) 2023, CPA learnt on Friday from the website of this umbrella body of the basketball.
This decision was taken at the end of the FIBA Africa Executive Committee meeting held in its headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
From Friday 24th to Sunday, February 27th, the 12 national teams, still in the running will play three games in groups E and F to determine the four places still available to represent Africa in the next world tournament, jointly organized by Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.
Thus in this deadline of Friday 24th to Sunday, February 27th, Angola will be the host of Group E while Egypt will be for Group F.
As a reminder, the African Zone qualifiers for the 2023 FIBA World Cup began in November 2021 in Benguela, Angola, with the first round of Groups A and C.
The second qualifying window, in February, saw the start of Groups B and D in Dakar, Senegal.
In the third window, the 16 teams involved in the second round played in Kigali, Rwanda and Alexandria, Egypt.
The country of the Pharaohs won all three of its Group D matches in Alexandria in July 2022.
Central African Republic, Kenya, Mali and Rwanda were eliminated at the end of this window by finishing last in their respective groups.
The fourth and penultimate window of the African Zone qualifiers took place in August last year. It marked the beginning of the second round, with 12 teams divided into two groups of 6 teams and was played in Monastir in Tunisia and Abidjan Ivory Coast.
The teams in Group E are: Angola, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Nigeria and Uganda.
Those in Group F are: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Senegal, South Sudan and Tunisia.
Côte d’Ivoire, first African country to qualify
Côte d’Ivoire was the first African country to qualify for the 32-nation competition last August. This global competition will allow seven teams to qualify directly for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as France has already qualified as the host country of the event.
Of these seven places, two will go to the Americas, two to Europe, one to Africa, one to Asia and one to Oceania.
