AfroBasket 2025, organized by FIBA Africa as part of its strategy to expand and professionalize basketball on the continent, crowned Angola as champion after defeating Mali in the final played at the Kilamba Arena in Luanda this past weekend. With this title, the twelfth in its history, the Angolan team reinforces its status as a historic powerhouse in African basketball. Senegal completed the podium by beating Cameroon in the third-place match.

Beyond the results, the tournament highlighted the growth and development of basketball in Africa. The rise of teams such as Mali, which reached the final for the first time, adds to the strength of other more traditional teams such as Senegal, Nigeria, and Egypt, as well as the progress of emerging nations such as the surprising South Sudan, which in just a few years and with a country mired in civil war has established itself among the leading teams. This scenario reflects a changing era in which traditional powers coexist with new projects that have raised the competitive level across the continent.

National powers in transformation

Angola’s hegemony remains a benchmark, but the diversity of contenders confirms that Africa is no longer a stage dominated by a single country. Nigeria and Egypt continue to be teams with solid structures, while Ivory Coast and Cape Verde have taken important steps in their consolidation processes. Tunisia, champion in 2011 and 2017, is seeking to reinvent itself in the midst of a transition phase and the emergence of new contenders.

AfroBasket 2025 also made it clear that sporting growth goes hand in hand with greater public participation. Fans in Luanda filled the arena every day, an example of how basketball has become part of Africa’s identity.

African clubs and the Basketball Africa League

To put it in context, the aforementioned strengthening of African basketball cannot be understood without the Basketball Africa League (BAL), launched by FIBA and the NBA in 2021. Clubs such as Al Ahly (Egypt), Petro de Luanda (Angola), US Monastir (Tunisia), and AS Douanes (Senegal) have established themselves as leaders in a project that has raised the standards of competition, professionalization, and international exposure.

The BAL has served as a showcase for local players, boosted the growth of new clubs, and given prominence to countries without such a long tradition, diversifying the map of African basketball. At the same time, historic teams such as 1º de Agosto in Angola maintain their influence on the continental stage.

Adding names to this explosion of orange ball action, during a ceremony held in Luanda before the final, FIBA and the Angolan Federation paid tribute to players, coaches, referees, and leaders who have left their mark on the development of the sport. Historic names such as Jean Jacques Conceição, Romain Sato, and Medhat Warda, along with international figures such as Amadou Gallo Fall and Kim Bohuny, received a tribute symbolizing their legacy in Africa and a bridge between the past, the present, and what is to come.

FIBA’s work in Africa

FIBA Africa has played a decisive role in this development. Through coach and referee training programs, youth academies, and camps in collaboration with the NBA, the federation has created an ecosystem that allows African talent to make the leap to top-level professional leagues.

Investment in infrastructure, such as the modern Kilamba Arena in Luanda or the Dakar Arena, ensures that major events are played in top-level venues, while the promotion of grassroots categories ensures continued growth. The result is a continent where basketball has established itself as a mass sport and is projecting itself strongly into the future.

With the eyes of the basketball world now focused on FIBA Eurobasket and FIBA AmeriCup, we must not forget the tournament that has just ended in Africa and which, given its progress, may soon be rubbing shoulders with the powerhouses of those continents.