FIBA Africa confirmed Angola as the host country of the 2023 FIBA AfroCan during an official ceremony on Monday in the country’s capital city of Luanda.
Angola becomes the second country to organise the competition since Mali hosted the inaugural edition of the FIBA AfroCan in 2019.
This year’s FIBA AfroCan will take place from July 8 to 16.
Angola hosted the second round of Group E of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers from February 24-26
FIBA AfroCan is a 12-nation and quadrennial continental competition aimed at home-based players.
Except for the teams that reached the Semi-Finals of the last edition of the tournament, the remaining eight teams qualify though regional qualifiers from all FIBA Africa seven zones.
FIBA Africa President, Anibal Manave, praised Angola for the country’s hosting experience and capabilities and encouraged the Southern African country to do its best to make the 2023 FIBA AfroCan a successful event.
“AfroCan is a huge part of our strategy,” Manave said, adding: “It allows national federations to get organised and give new basketball talents a chance to play at high level at some point in their careers.
“I would like to wish Angola good luck, and a good organisation of this event, and let Angola be Angola. They are good hosts; They are a well-organised country, and this is important for FIBA Africa strategy.”
Teams qualified for this year’s FIBA AfroCan, so far, include reigning champions DR Congo; Kenya who finished second in 2019; Angola who finished third and Morocco.
Angolan Basketball Federation (FAB) President Jose Moniz welcomed FIBA Africa’s decision to his country the hosting rights of the event.
“It’s important for us to organise such event because [as a Federation] we have been working extremely hard in youth basketball programs,” Moniz explained.
“Our objective is to keep our youth basketball programs active. We have several infrastructures that we must put to public usage, and this is a great opportunity to do so. We have quality venues in Malanje, Namibe, Huila and Benguela. We hope to take a competition like this to places outside of the capital.”
It remains to be seen if FAB will concentrate the 2023 FIBA AfroCan in Luanda or add another host province.
“We hope to give a positive response to FIBA Africa President’s encouragement of trying to organise this event across two different provinces,” said FAB vice president Silvio Lemos. “We have logistic capacity to organise this event. In partnership with the Angolan Government we’ll evaluate which other province can meet the demands of this competition,” Lemos stressed.
