Africa Women's Basketball League Team Preview: Inter Club de Luanda

Inter Club de Luanda in Search of Past Glory

As the inaugural edition of the African Women's Basketball League (AWBL) tips-off today Monday, December 11, 2023, in Alexandria, Egypt, Inter Club deLuanda, one of the two wild card teams, will be out to prove themselves.

In any case, the Angolans are keen to reclaim the continental crown they last won in 2016. And last year's disappointment in Maputo, where they finished fourth at the foot of the podium, won't suggest otherwise.

From 2010 to 2019, Inter Club won the now defunct FIBA Africa Women'sChampions Cup five times, making the club funded by the Angolan National Police the most successful on the African continent. However, Ferroviario de Maputo has recently become Inter Club's biggest challenger, having beaten the Angolan outfit three times in recent tournament editions. First in Maputo in 2018, before repeating the feat in Cairo in 2019. And to deny the Angolans 3rd place in Maputo in 2022.

But this time, the Mozambicans are not participating in this inaugural edition. Could this be the year of the revival? Everything leads us to believe it, even if the defending champions, Sporting Club d'Alexandrie, blocked the Angolans' path to the final last year.

This year, 2023, for the inaugural edition of the African Women's Basketball League (AWBL), Inter Club is in Group B alongside Equity Bank of Kenya, Overdose of Cameroon, ASPAC of Benin and finally REG of Rwanda.

Italee Lucas and Cristina Matiquite are still at the forefront of the team and will be able to count on recruits such as Tyra Jade Johnson and Adrienne Williams Godbold, both from the USA.

One thing is certain: Inter Club travel to Alexandria to recapture their glory days, and what better way than the inaugural edition of the African Women's Basketball League (AWBL) for coach Elisa Pires' ladies to remind the continent that they are the most successful team still in the hunt for a trophy.

[Image/Photography Credit: FIBA]