African basketball federations depend on government funding, causing financial instability and mismanagement. This article highlights funding challenges, Nigeria and Kenya’s struggles, South Sudan’s success, and investment opportunities shaping the sport’s future across the continent.
Last Updated on
March 14, 2025
Funding for basketball in Africa has been a growing focus in recent years, with multiple organisations, governments, and private entities recognising the sport's potential to bring about social change and economic development. Moreover, the NBA's involvement in the premier men's club competition, the Basketball Africa League (BAL), which began in 2021, has significantly contributed to the sport's growth while attracting top-class players and partners for participating teams.
This, however, is a drop in the ocean when it comes to African talent. Much more is needed, especially at the national level, for the continent to be on par with the rest, as Africa is undoubtedly home to some of the best basketball players in the world. In this piece, we explore how African basketball federations are funded and how financial resources have impacted the success or failure of African teams in recent years.
African federations heavily rely on their respective governments for funding, with a few well-established national teams able to secure resources from the private sector. This over dependence has, time and again, put African basketball at a crossroads, with team mismanagement during competitions being a common occurrence.
As recently as the just-concluded AfroBasket and Women’s AfroBasket Qualifiers, the differences in funding were evident. In a continent of 54 nations, only nine teams competed in the women’s event, while the men’s competition also faced shortcomings.
The Tanzanian women’s team, expected at the Zone Five Qualifiers in Cairo, Egypt, released a statement days before the competition, citing a lack of government funding as one of the reasons for skipping the zonal qualifiers. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s men’s national team, D’Tigers, posted on their official X account on 21 February 2024 that they were withdrawing from the 2025 AfroBasket Qualifiers in Tunisia due to a lack of funds, which unsurprisingly sparked outrage.
However, arrangements were made, and the West Africans did not arrive in Tunisia for the competition until just hours before their first game. Unsurprisingly, they lost all three games before their turnaround in the final qualifying window to progress.
“Coming out here without even practising. We have to structure and prepare as a team. Imagine if we stayed together for a month, we would’ve done better.” Nigeria's Bright Osagie Akhuetie told afrocritik after D'Tigers performance in the February 2024 AfroBasket Qualifiers window.
With Nigeria posting an impressive 3-0 comeback record in the February 2025 window, Akhuetie's sentiments proved accurate. The squad featured ten new players, with Mike Nuga and Abe Abuchi Agu being the only returnees from the 2024 team. In addition to these changes, funding directly impacted the 2015 African champions' performance over the two windows.
In February 2025, the Kenyan men's national team found itself in a similar predicament, issuing a walkover against Tunisia as the federation cited "unforeseen logistical challenges, including a lack of connecting flights into Tripoli." This came despite the competition being on the federation's radar for almost a year. The team lost the remaining two matches, missing out on qualification.
In contrast, South Sudan's Bright Stars and Starlets have enjoyed immense success in recent years, partly due to the financial stability of the Luol Deng-led federation. In August 2024, the South Sudan Basketball Federation signed a three-year sponsorship deal with MTN South Sudan as the flagship sponsor of the national teams.
PEAK, a leading basketball sports brand, also has a three-year deal with the East African nation, providing playing apparel for both national teams. Before the sponsorship deals, Deng had reportedly self-funded the national teams, leading South Sudan to the top of African men's basketball in just four years since their debut in 2020.
The fight for supremacy in men's basketball has been between the North and the West, a pattern also evident in women's competitions. The men's scene has been dominated by record champions Angola and back-to-back titleholders Tunisia, with teams like Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria adding to the competitiveness. Senegal and Nigeria are Africa's most successful women's teams.
Joe Lopez, a member of Basketball Africa League-bound, Cape Verde-based club Kriol Stars' front office, attributes the dominance of these two regions to their longer involvement in basketball rather than an indication of how the nations in those regions handle the financial aspects of the sport. However, he quickly noted that the right investment is beginning to level the playing field.
"East African basketball is on the rise. West and North Africa nations has been playing basketball a bit longer and that gives them an advantage, having been in the business of competition a lot longer.
Teams like Rwanda and South Sudan have made investments are now challenging the status quo," Lopez who also doubles as the chairperson of the Jeanne D'arc basketball teams in Senegal told AfricaBasket.
He, however, acknowledges that financial issues affect basketball across all regions, calling on federations to embrace communication to attract the right kind of investments.
"Visibility is everything in sports," he offered pointing to the relationship between success on the court and reaping financial benefits.
Africa's basketball investment pales in comparison to other continents. While the continent continues to struggle financially, other regions continue to improve. Just last month, a group of investors announced plans to create a basketball league spanning Asia and Europe, aiming to one day rival the NBA. Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is set to be a strategic partner, with Swiss bank UBS acting as an adviser.
The Financial Times reported that the $5 billion basketball competition plans to create six men's and six women's teams competing in eight host cities. Macau and Singapore are being considered as hosts, while organisers are also looking to include European cities.
The African governing body, FIBA Africa, has repeatedly found itself in a dilemma over hosting major events. Many federations lack both the financial resources and the infrastructure to execute such events. This is in sharp contrast to federations in regions like Europe, the Americas, and Asia, where continental competition hosting rights are typically determined through a bidding process.
According to research published on the Scientific Research website (scirp.org), with Rwanda as a case study on the impact of BAL's investment, the league has contributed significantly to the growth and development of basketball in the country. The study states that the league has provided many opportunities that have driven growth, enhanced Rwandan players' competitiveness, supported young talent through its programmes, increased the game's popularity, offered the chance to host finals, and promoted basketball nationwide.
BAL has also helped mentor female players through its BAL4HER programme and contributed to developing state-of-the-art basketball infrastructure. All these opportunities have facilitated the growth of Rwandan basketball by elevating local league competitiveness and advancing the professionalisation of the sport. In equal measure, basketball's growth has increased ticket sales and advertising revenues, boosting the game's commercial viability in Rwanda.
While these findings do not reflect the situation across all nations, they offer a glimpse into the investment possibilities for African federations as FIBA Africa strives to catch up with the rest of the world.
