The entire qualifiers for the 2025 Afrobasket tournament for men, as unveiled by FIBA Africa on Friday, has been described as “an interesting and intriguing one”.
This assertion was made by the President of FIBA Africa Zone 3, and member of the board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation Retired Colonel Sam Ahmedu.
“It’s going to be very interesting. Unlike in the past, when the teams had to qualify from the zones, FIBA Africa has altered that, and the arrangement now is to have it a pool even, where the top teams are seeded and grouped with the lesser teams, for the best sides to qualify for the 12 team tournament”.
It means, for an example, Group B which houses Nigeria (a World Cup absentee); Cape Verdé (who were at the FIBA World Cup), and the _Silverbacks_ of Uganda; as well as two other zonal qualifiers to determine who goes to the tournament.
According to the FIBA Zone 3 President, Nigeria has to be weary of Cape Verdé; after they dealt _D’Tigers_ cruel blows in the qualifiers for the 2023 FIBA World Cup, both in the preliminaries and second qualifying round. And while the Islanders made it to the World Cup, D’Tigers were sent crashing out.
“Zone one is also of interest, as the Maghreb sides – Algeria, Tunisia (the reigning Afrobasket champions); Egypt and even Libya will be interesting to watch. They’ve upped the ante, and built-up their teams, Nigeria cannot afford to bask on their past laurels or glory, anymore”; he warned.
Asked to comment on the chances of _D’Tigers_ , he posited that “it will depend largely on the timing of the qualifiers, because the NBA and other top leagues would be be in full swing. So, the NBBF will have to rely on our home-based stars and a few other players from Europe, mostly to prosecute the qualifiers”.
This response, brings us to the unfortunate trajectory of domestic basketball in Nigeria, especially since 2017, where the sequence of no leagues or abridged leagues, means these lads at home are not properly prepared, physically, mentally and tactically equipped like their peers in other top basketball playing countries.
But that’s not to say Nigeria cannot pull through the qualifiers unscathed. Like Retired Colonel Ahmedu, many other pundits spoken to believe it all rests on the NBBF, and it’s ability to plan very well, and not let things to chance as usually do.
It has been a recurring decimal of late, for teams to be camped late, under prepared, and the technical committee of the NBBF not being able to sit, nor invite the right calibre of players, to represent the country.
It’s therefore expected that the NBBF as a responsible federation must have learnt from the spate of poor performances, suffered by _D’Tigers_ , not too long ago.
It’s also of essence, that the leadership of the NBBF rally to bring all its board members, on the same page, and lay to rest the perspective perception of “divide and rule”, so that all hands are placed on the deck to forestall another disaster.
As a matter of fact, Nigeria and the NBBF must learn from what happened to us versus Senegal and against Mali, at the Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Lagos where the Nigeria blew her chances.
The pathway for Nigeria’s Senior men’s national basketball team, D’Tigers and other teams to the 2025 FIBA Men’s Afrobasket tournament, was unveiled on Friday, by FIBA Africa.
Nigeria was pooled in Group B of the qualifier with games against Cape Verdé, Uganda and two other qualifiers from the zones.
D’Tigers have had a rather difficult time recently and this is yet another opportunity to redeem their image; after the 2013 Afrobasket champions could only finish 8th at the last Afrobasket tournament in Kigali; failed to qualify for the 2023 FIBA World Cup; and also crashed out of the Pre-Olympics Qualifying Tournament, of the upcoming 2024 Olympics, in Paris.
Group A has South Sudan, Mali, DR Congo, and a three-team play-off involving Mauritania, Comoros, and one other country.
Group C teams include Senegal, Cameroun, Rwanda; and a team from another play-off involving two sides.
Group D consists of Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, CAF and a three-way playoff, that includes Madagascar, and Djibouti; and Group E has Tunisia, Angola, Kenya and Guinea.
According to FIBA Africa, Groups D, B, and E will have their zonal qualifiers in February 2024 and Groups A and C will have their qualifiers in November 2024.
In all, twelve (12) teams will qualify to play in the competition proper, scheduled for Kigali, Rwanda, in the 2025.
