FIBA World Cup: Cameroon faces Cabo Verde in decisive window three showdown today.

The match will be played at the gymnasium of the Japoma Stadium in Douala. The game will kick off at 6pm, shortly after the end of the event’s opening match pitting South Sudan against Libya.

The Basketball Lions will lock horns with the 2023 Basketball World debutants with hopes of securing maximum points as the team eyes an early ticket to the second and final round of the qualifying series.

Victory for the head coach Alfred Aboya-managed team in the fixture will see Cameroon qualifying for the final round of the qualifiers with two matches to spare if South Sudan beats Libya in the other group fixture which is scheduled for 3pm on Thursday.

Cameroon enters the Douala tournament in high spirit owing to the two victories that it recorded in November last year when the first round of matches in the group were played in Tunisia.

The selection overpowered Libya and 2024 Olympic Games men's basketball tournament debutants South Sudan during the round one matches with its lone defeat in the series coming on the hands of Cabo Verde.

Asides the general motivation of looking to build on that inspiring run, the Basketball Lions will especially look to regain the now lost years-long superiority that they previously demonstrated over the Cabo Verdeans before last year’s 82-77points loss to the outfit. 

Cameroon has won two of the last three matches that it has disputed against the Cabo Verdeans in a competitive meeting.

Before losing to the island nation in November, Cameroon had earlier beaten the outfit twice in the final phase of the African basketball championships, the Afrobasket.

The Basketball Lions outplayed the team 74-53points on its way to the quarterfinals of the 2013 Afrobasket in Côté d'Ivoire. The selection handed the team an 88-66points beating in the classification phase of the 2015 Afrobasket showpiece.

Before the start of the Group A tournament, Cameroon is ranked second in the pool behind Cabo Verde, and above the pair of South Sudan and Libya.

After the first match this Thursday, the team will challenge Libya on Saturday July 4 before battling out with South Sudan on Sunday July 5.

Ahead of the start of tournament in Douala, the Cameroon head coach Alfred Aboya named the 12-man list of players who will represent the team in the tournament.

The list is made up of players selected from the pool of 16 players who were named in the preliminary squad that camped in Douala for close to two weeks in the build up to the qualifying tournament. The major highlight on the list is the inclusion of Toronto Raptors star, Ulrich Chomche. 

The former FAP Basketball Club of Yaounde youngster is making his first appearance for the team in over two years. Sixteens from across the African continent are presently competing in the first round of the African zonal qualifiers to the 2027 Basketball World Cup tournament which will be organized in Qatar next year.

The teams are pooled into four groups. The top three from each group will qualify for the second and final qualifying phase. The five best-ranked teams amongst the 12 qualified teams which will be further pooled in two groups of six will go on to qualify as Africa’s representatives in the 32-nation global tournament.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3835 of Thursday July 02, 2026