CAIRO (Egypt) - The FIBA Africa Zone 5 Women's AfroBasket Qualifiers, to be held in Cairo, Egypt, from Monday 3 to Saturday 8 February, will give five teams the chance to qualify for the 2025 FIBA Women's AfroBasket later this year in Côte d'Ivoire .
The five include hosts Egypt, former champions Kenya, last edition's silver medallists Uganda, South Sudan and Burundi. The zone has been represented in the Women's AfroBasket (renamed the FIBA Africa Championship for Women in 2017) since the inaugural edition in 1966.
As the action gets underway at the Hassan Mostafa Arena, who will get the only available spot in the 12-nation Women's AfroBasket? During the first two editions (1966,1968), the United Arab Republic women's national basketball team - a historic team that existed between the year 1958-1971 that represented the country, a union between Egypt (including the occupied Gaza Strip) and Syria. Here, we take a dive into the history of the Zone 5 competition, highlighting some of its remarkable moments.
Most qualifications by country
Egypt (including the Union) have qualified for the African competition 14 times. Their consecutive titles as United Arab Republic remain the only ones they have won at the Women's AfroBasket. In their first appearance as Egypt in 1970, the team finished on the podium three times in a row, winning silver in 1970 and 1977 after settling for bronze in 1974.
At the time, the North Africans were the only team from the region to appear at the continental event. A comeback at the 1984 continental showpiece was not as successful as in their formative years, as they failed to finish on the podium over the years. Kenya are second on the list with seven appearances, with their silver medal in 1993, when they returned after their debut in 1986, their best finish and only podium finish.
Missed Editions
FIBA Africa Zone 5 has not been represented on five occasions since the inaugural event. The 1981 and 1983 editions were the first time the zone had no representative on the continental stage. This was despite the fact that the previous edition (1979) was hosted by one of the zones for the first time.
This was repeated in the 1994 edition, just a year after the zone had a team on the podium for the first time since 1977, when Egypt achieved a similar result. The other two came in 2003 and 2005.
Women's AfroBasket Hosts
Somalia were the zone's first hosts of the Women's AfroBasket in 1979. However, it was the lowest turnout ever recorded as only three teams took part in the continental event; Ghana, winners Senegal and hosts Somalia played a round-robin format, with the latter becoming Zone Five's first medallists.
Kenya became the zone's second hosts when the competition was held in Nairobi, 18 years after Somalia hosted in 1997, and finished fourth. Tanzania made their debut and only appearance at the continental level in 1997. Uganda did the same and went on to host two more editions in 2015 and 2023.
Rivalries
One of the longest-running rivalries in the zone's qualifiers is between two-time champions Egypt and Kenya. The former have dominated the competition to the extent that the East Africans recorded their first-ever win over the North Africans in the 2021 qualifiers.
Led by eventual MVP Victoria Reynolds and best forward of the tournament Felmas Koranga, Kenya avenged their 107-106 group loss to the Egyptians to seal a second consecutive continental appearance with a 99-83 victory in the final of the 2021 qualifiers at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.
Egypt were given a wild card into the Women's AfroBasket that year, but they made a vengeful comeback in the 2023 qualifiers to lift the zonal title and deny Kenya the chance to claim second place with an 82-57 thrashing. Instead, they were joined by Uganda, who squeaked through by a single point as the standings came down to points difference (85, 23 and 22). .
Burundi make comeback in 2025 Qualifiers
Burundi are making a first appearance, in next month's qualifiers, for the first time in over a decade. The team is preparing at the Department of Sport Stadium under the tutelage of head coach Arsene Mfuraniza.
Women's AfroBasket Zone Five Participation
1966, 1968- United Arab Republic (Champions) 1970-Egypt (Silver ) 1974- Egypt (Bronze ) 1977-Egypt (Silver) 1979- Somalia (Hosts-Silver) 1984-Egypt (Sixth) 1986- Kenya (Debut, Fifth) 1990- Egypt (Seventh) 1993- Kenya (Silver ) 1997- Kenya ( Hosts- Fourth) Tanzania (Debut, Eighth) Uganda (Debut, Ninth) 2000- Egypt (Seventh ) 2007- Kenya (12) 2009, 2011- Rwanda (Ninth) 2013 -Egypt (Eighth ), Kenya (10 ) 2015- Egypt (Eighth ), Uganda (10) 2017- Egypt (Seventh) 2019- Egypt (Seventh ), Kenya (11) 2021- Egypt (Sixth), Kenya (Ninth) 2023- Rwanda (Fourth), Uganda (Seventh), Egypt (10) 2025- Who gets the ticket?
FIBA