The dwindling fortunes of basketball in Nigeria continue to reflect at the continental level as the ailing African giant will be absent two months before the 2024 FIBA U18 African Championships tip-off, as FIBA Africa confirmed the schedules for the upcoming qualifiers tournaments.
The Final Round of the biennial FIBA U18 African Championships (Men and Women) will take place in South Africa in August.
With nothing happening both at the senior and junior levels across the country, the sport continues to plummet following the inactiveness of the board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) at the local level except for private initiatives across the country.
So far teams qualified for the Final Round of the continental tournament of both categories including the semifinalists from the 2022 tournaments held in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Those teams are Angola, Egypt, Madagascar and Mali. According to FIBA Africa, the remaining eight countries from each category will qualify for the Final Round through qualifying tournaments to be held across all seven FIBA Africa sub-zones.
Teams from FIBA Africa Zone 1 will play Qualifiers tournaments in Tunis, Tunisia from July 11-14.
The schedule for the FIBA Africa Zone 2, which comprises Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia, will be confirmed at a later date.
The Ivorian city of Abidjan will host FIBA Africa Zone 3 Qualifiers from July 8-16.
As hosts of the FIBA Africa Zone 4 Qualifiers, Cameroon earned automatic qualification to the Final Round following the withdrawal of teams from their sub-zone (Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe).
Kampala earned the hosting rights for FIBA Africa Zone 5 held between Sunday, June 9 to Friday, June 14.
Zambia’s largest city of Lusaka is the home to FIBA Africa Zone 6 from June 25-29, while the FIBA Africa Zone 7 Qualifiers will be confirmed at a later date.
FIBA Africa also announced that registration of participating teams is ongoing.