The Federation of Uganda Basketball Association (FUBA) has announced that Uganda will host the FIBA 3×3, Africa, Youth Nations’ League from August 5th to 11th, 2024, at the Lugogo Hockey Pitch in Kampala.
The Youth Nations League is the exclusive qualification pathway to the U23 World Cup, which is scheduled for September 2024 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This comes a month after the Uganda qualifiers.
Hamza Nyambogo Mnemo, Director of the 3×3 format at FUBA and Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the FIBA 3×3, Africa, Youth Nations’ League Kampala event, confirmed that Uganda will compete against teams from South Africa, Algeria, Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, and Benin.
“The Youth Nations League is organized in ‘Stops’ of sextuples. A sextuple comprises six competition days or six mini-tournaments held in one location. The U23 World Cup is considered the pinnacle of competition for 3×3, providing a crucial platform for players and National Federations to engage in high-level international competition,” Mnemo explained.
A total of 20 countries (20 men’s and 20 women’s teams) will advance to the final group participating in the U23 World Cup.
Similar to the African league, participants from other FIBA jurisdictions across Asia, Europe, and the Americas will qualify for the World Cup through their respective Youth Nations Leagues. Only those countries that participate in these sextuples will have a chance to qualify for the U23 World Cup.
“The winners of each conference (sextuple) automatically qualify for the U23 World Cup. The host national federation (Mongolia, both men and women) also qualifies, along with the reigning champions (USA men and Netherlands women),” Mnemo added.
To secure a spot among the final 20 qualifying teams (per gender), participating countries must attain high-ranking positions in the Nations League 2024 final standings, determined by the results of all the games played in the various conferences.
FUBA President Nasser Sserunjogi emphasized the importance of the Youth Nations League, noting, “It provides a much-needed platform to expose players and national federations to high-level international competition, serving as qualifiers for the annual World Cup. Ugandans should come out in large numbers to cheer on our boys and girls as they seek qualification to the World Cup.”
Entrance fees for the event are set at UGX 10,000 for ordinary tickets and UGX 25,000 for VIP tickets.
The event is organized by FUBA, with Hamza Mnemo leading the organizing committee, backed by experienced FIBA 3×3 Technical officials on the continent.
