FIBA World Cup 2023: Homegrown Egypt "one more special game" from first Olympic men's basketball qualification since 1988

The Egypt men’s basketball team can secure a spot for Paris 2024 if they beat New Zealand on Saturday with a better result than rivals South Sudan.

3 minBy Sebastian Mikkelsen & Samuel Friedman
Egypt can take the sole African spot for Paris 2024.

The battle for obtaining Africa's sole men’s basketball spot for Paris 2024 from the FIBA World Cup 2023 will be decided on Saturday.

Before the last round classification games, South Sudan and Egypt are in pole position to claim the Olympic quota.

South Sudan's story - as the youngest nation in the event - has taken a lot of the spotlight during the tournament. 

The Egypt head coach Roy Rana told Olympics.com that his team also has a unique journey.

“South Sudan is a special story, and we understand that. But we have a pretty special story as well. Maybe we're not telling it as much, or maybe the media is not telling it as much," Roy Rana shared.

“In qualification for the World Cup. We only had one player that didn't play in the Egyptian Pro League. 

"All of our players played domestically in Egypt, and here we are one game away from the Olympics with nine of our 12 players on this team playing domestically in Egypt. I think that's pretty unique for all countries here.”

Egypt's Pharoahs last qualified for the Olympic Games in 1988. Victory over New Zealand on Saturday could be enough to seal their spot at Paris 2024.

“Making it to the Olympics is always special,” 

“We continue to improve, as the tournament goes on and hopefully, we have one more special game ahead of us.”

All five African teams at the tournament are still mathematically in contention for the one Paris 2024 berth, but for Angola, Cape Verde, or Ivory Coast to qualify, it would need both Egypt and South Sudan to lose their games. 

Egypt would qualify if they win and South Sudan lose to Angola.

Similarly, South Sudan would qualify if they win and Egypt lose.

It's also possible that two, three, or potentially all five of the African nations finish with the same win-loss record at the FIBA World Cup, which could see points difference as the deciding factor. On Saturday, every basket counts in the race for Olympic qualification.

As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.

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