FIBA Women's AfroBasket 2021: What you need to know and how to watch
Can Nigeria’s D’Tigress take home the title for a third time in a row? Or will Senegal have their revenge? Here are the key talking points ahead of the tournament from September 18 to September 26 in Cameroon
Basketball
The time has come for the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket tournament.
The top 12 national basketball teams from Africa will descend on Yaounde, Cameroon, to compete in the 27th edition of the biennial tournament.
The action is taking place from Saturday 18th to Sunday 26th September 2021, and up for grabs are not just the bragging rights of being the best in the continent. The top two teams will be guaranteed a spot in one of the qualifying tournaments for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022.
Everything is to play for.
Hordes of talent will be on display throughout the competition including Leia Dongue of Mozambique, named to the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket All-Tournament team three times (2013, 2017 and 2019); two-time AfroBasket champion and Olympian Ezinne Kalu of Nigeria, and newcomer Victoria Reynolds, who had a storming debut for the Kenya national side in the zone five qualifiers, scooping up the title of MVP.
The 2017 and 2019 champions Nigeria are arriving in Yaounde optimistic of making it an AfroBasket threepeat.
However, they experienced less than favourable run at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games; the D’Tigresses finished in 11th (out of 12). Will that global tournament experience help? Or will it hinder their title defence campaign? Only time will tell.
Read on for a breakdown of the groups, the tournament schedule, and teams to watch.
Women’s Afrobasket 2021: Groups for the Cameroon tournament
Group A
Cameroon (CMR)
Cape Verde (CPV)
Kenya (KEN)
Group B
Nigeria (NGR)
Angola (ANG)
Mozambique (MOZ)
Group C
Senegal (SEN)
Egypt (EGY)
Guinea (GUI)
Group D
Mali (MLI)
Cote D’Ivore (CIV)
Tunisia (TUN)
The winners of each group will qualify automatically for the quarter-finals. The remaining 8 teams will go into elimination qualification play-off games, to decide who takes the remaining 4 quarter-final spots.
Women’s AfroBasket 2021 Schedule
Here are the key dates to note down for the tournament in Yaounde.
Group phase
The group stage of the women’s AfroBasket competition in Cameroon will begin on September 18 and end on September 20.
The opening game of the tournament will be between the 11-time African champions Senegal and wild card entrant Guinea at 11:00 local time.
Qualification to quarter-finals
The winners of Groups A, B, C and D qualify automatically for the quarter-finals while the remaining teams will compete in the ‘qualification to quarter-finals’ round.
This phase of the tournament will take place on September 22 after a rest day on September 21.
Quarter-finals
Things begin to heat up at the quarter-final stage, which will take place on September 23.
Semi-finals
A spot in the final will be for the taking in the semi-finals, taking place on September 24.
Final
The 2021 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket final is slated for September 26 at 18:00 local time, with the third-place play-off decided three hours earlier at 15:00 local time.
Teams to watch at FIBA women’s AfroBasket 2021
First and foremost, there are the back-to-back champions Nigeria.
With an engine room featuring Adaora Elonu, Victoria Macaulay, Evelyn Akhator, in addition to Kalu, this team will take some beating if any contender hopes to deny them a third crown.
Watch out too for their rising star Elizabeth Balogun who made her debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. While the tournament in Japan was not easy for the D’Tigresses, the occasion was still valuable match experience, and they will be eager to write the wrongs having lost all three of their group games.
The 2019 finalists Senegal are a side well and truly in the mix, and 2021 might just be personal.
The 11-time African champions, who last won the title in 2015, boast a roster stacked with depth and experience. While they may be without talismanic scorer Astou Traore, the likes of Mame-Marie Sy and Yacine Diop will be on hand to help them avenge a title they missed out on two years ago.
Mali will also be on the hunt to improve their traditional tournament standing in Yaounde.
The third-place finishers from the tournament’s last two editions are something of a powerhouse when it comes to developing basketball talent and have plenty of young blood to prop up their senior team. However, Mali will be without Touty Gandega.
Other outside contenders include Mozambique and the surprise package from qualification: Kenya.
While they have never won an AfroBasket title, Mozambique is a team on the rise. They finished just outside of the podium back in 2019 and they will likely be bolstered by Dongue and Tamara Seda heading into the competition.
In drawing a handful of their internationals back into the fold, Kenya looks to continue threatening the status quo at this year’s tournament. The Lionesses raised eyebrows earlier this year when they defeated Egypt in the zone five qualifiers’ final at the Kigali Arena in Rwanda.
How to watch the action at Women's AfroBasket 2021 in Yaoundé
Spectators will be present at games, and for those able to attend in person, tickets for the event can be purchased here.
All games at the tournament in Cameroon will be broadcast, with action available to watch live via a number of different channels and live streams depending on where you're based.
A full list of broadcasters will be confirmed ahead of the opening game on Saturday 18th September, with video clips and press conferences available via the FIBA website and the organisation's YouTube channel.