Egypt hand reins of national team to ambitious Rodl

CAIRO (Egypt) - Henrik Rodl had the magic touch as coach of Germany when they won the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Split in 2021. Now Egypt are hoping he'll bring some success to their national team after putting him in charge of the Pharoahs.

Rodl, who held the reins of Egyptian giants Al Ittihad last season, succeeds Roy Rana, who is coaching in Japan's B. League.

Canadian Rana led the team at last year's FIBA Basketball World Cup in Manila, where it won two of five games and claimed a spot in the OQT field. There were some big moments for the Egyptians, with players like Amr Zahran, Ehab Amin, Anas Mahmoud and Assem Marei standing out on multiple occasions.

This summer, Egypt will play in arguably the toughest of the four OQTs, in Athens. The national teams of Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, New Zealand and Egypt will all be taking part. Only the winner will progress to the Olympics in France.

There will also be OQTs in Riga, San Juan and Valencia.

Before that, Egypt will play AfroBasket 2025 Qualifiers in February.

Rodl spoke about the opportunity to coach Egypt before he arrived in the country at the weekend.

"It's an honor for me to be with the Egyptian national team," he said. "I thank the Egyptian Federation for offering me this opportunity to train the Pharaohs. I have sufficient experience to work with the Egyptian players after my previous work with the Alexandria Federation."

Since the World Cup, Egypt have experienced the high of winning the Arab Basketball Championship.

Rodl declared that Egypt should aspire to be the best.

"I want to convey a message to the world that Egyptian basketball is highly developed and I strive for the Egyptian national team to be the best and strongest in Africa," he said.

Before the OQT, Rodl will be at the helm when the country gets its AfroBasket 2025 Qualifiers campaign underway in February.

Rodl's biggest accomplishment with Germany was the victory at the Split OQT in 2021. Before that, he led Germany through a very impressive and successful European Qualifiers campaign for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.

The OQT in Athens is arguably the toughest of the four, with OQTs also set for Riga, Valencia and Puerto Rico.

Egypt will go up against the Dominican Republic and Greece on July 2 and July 4, respectively. If they advance, Rodl's men could face Slovenia, Croatia or New Zealand.

FIBA