Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo
FIBA ranking72 Decrease 1 (15 September 2023)[1]
Joined FIBA1963
FIBA zoneFIBA Africa
National federationFebaco
CoachEmmanuel Mavomo
Nickname(s)Leopards
AfroBasket
Appearances7 (last in 2021)

The DR Congo national basketball team (French: Équipe nationale de basketball de Congo DR) represents DR Congo in men's international basketball competitions, it is controlled by the Basketball Federation of Democratic Republic of Congo.[2] (French: République démocratique du Congo Fédération de basket-ball)

The team has appeared in the FIBA Africa Championship, but has yet to appear in the FIBA World Championship. Its biggest success to date was the Final Four placement at the 1975 FIBA Africa Championship when it competed as Zaire.

History

DR Congo joined the FIBA in 1963 and made their first tournament debut twelve years later, during the 1974 AfroBasket. In the following year, they played in the 1975 AfroBasket championship. Congo ended in the fourth place after a 2–3 record. After a 6th place in 1980, the team missed the tournament for the next 27 years.

During AfroBasket 2007, DR Congo returned and finished 15th.

After another 10-year absence, the country played in the AfroBasket 2017 where they reached the quarter-finals after upsetting Nigeria in the group phase.[3]

In August 2022, Jonathan Kuminga joined the Congolese team to become the first National Basketball Association (NBA) player to play for the national team.[4] Kuminga had just won his first NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors.

Performances

FIBA Basketball World Cup

DR Congo has never appeared in the FIBA Basketball World Cup, but has played in the qualifying rounds.

FIBA World Cup record Qualification record
Year Round Position GP W L GP W L –
Brazil 1963 Did not qualify AfroBasket served as qualification
Uruguay 1967
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1970
Puerto Rico 1974
Philippines 1978
Colombia 1982
Spain 1986
Argentina 1990
Canada 1994
Greece 1998
United States 2002
Japan 2006
Turkey 2010
Spain 2014
China 2019 6 2 4 2019
PhilippinesJapanIndonesia 2023 12 5 7 2023
Qatar 2027 To be determined To be determined 2027
Total 0/16 0 0 0 18 7 11 Total

AfroBasket

  Fourth place  

AfroBasket record Qualification record
Year Round Position GP W L GP W L –
Morocco 1964Did not qualify
Tunisia 1965
Morocco 1968
Egypt 1970
Senegal 1972
Central African Republic 1974Classification stage6th413
Egypt 1975Main stage4th523
Senegal 1978Did not qualify
Morocco 1980Classification stage6th523
Somalia 1981Did not qualify
Egypt 1983
Ivory Coast 1985
Tunisia 1987
Angola 1989
Egypt 1992
Kenya 1993
Algeria 1995
Senegal 1997
Angola 1999
Morocco 2001
Egypt 2003
Algeria 2005
Angola 2007Classification round15th624
Libya 2009Did not qualify 4 1 3 2009
Madagascar 2011 Did not enter
Ivory Coast 2013 6 1 5 2013
Tunisia 2015 Withdrew
Senegal Tunisia 2017Quarter-finals6th422 2 1 1 2017
Rwanda 2021Group stage13th312 6 3 3 2021
Total6/29271017 18 6 12 –

FIBA AfroCan

  Champions     Fourth place  

Year Round Position GP W L
Mali 2019Champions1st550
Angola 20234th place4th632
Total 2/21182

Team

Current roster

Roster in the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers of August 27, 2022.[5]

No. Pos. Player Current club
00 SG Jonathan Kuminga United States Golden State Warriors
3 F Narcisse Ambanza Democratic Republic of the Congo Espoir Fukash
4 G Myck Kabongo South Africa Cape Town Tigers
5 G Henry Pwono Luxembourg Etzella
10 PF Joel Ntambwe United States Delaware Blue Coats
11 C Pitchou Kambuy Manga Rwanda REG
15 F Rolly Fula Nganga Democratic Republic of the Congo Espoir Fukash
16 PF Shekinah Munanga France Évreux
18 C Jordan Sakho Spain CB Breogán
23 F Rodrigue Ebondo Tambwe Ivory Coast SOA
24 G Ron Mvouika United Kingdom Plymouth Raiders

Head coaches

Name Nationality Tenure
Papy Kipunka Kiembe DR Congo2017–2018[3]
John Douaglin[6] France2018
Mathias Eckhoff[7] Norway2020–2022[8]
Thomas Drouot  France February 2022 – July 2022[9]
Emmanuel Mavomo  DR Congo August 2022 – May 2023[4]

Notable eligible players

Name Team Team nation
Bismack Biyombo Phoenix Suns  United States
Yannick Nzosa Unicaja Málaga  Spain
Jordan Sakho UCAM Murcia  Spain
Oscar Tshiebwe Kentucky Wildcats  United States
Emmanuel Mudiay Iowa Wolves  United States

Top scorers

The following players were the DR Congo's top scorers in their AfroBasket tournaments:

DR Congo top scorers at AfroBasket
Tournament Player Points PPG
2017[10] Herve Kabasele Kasonga 59 14.8
2021[11] Henry Pwono 48 16.0

See also

References

  1. ↑ "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
  2. ↑ FIBA National Federations – Democratic Republic of the Congo, fiba.com. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
  3. 1 2 "DR Congo mourns passing of former national teams head coach Papy Kiembe". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Emmanuel Mavomo: "We want to be the first to qualify the DRC for the World Cup"". African News Paper. 26 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  5. ↑ "Congo DR at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  6. ↑ "DR Congo appoint Douaglin as head coach in bid to qualify for World Cup". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  7. ↑ "Kayembe excited about new DR Congo sophisticated style". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  8. ↑ "AfroBasket 2021 - Team Profile: Democratic Republic of Congo". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  9. ↑ Demba, Varore (17 February 2022). "Basketball : la RD Congo engage un nouvel entraîneur pour les qualifications au Mondial 2023". Sport News Africa (in French). Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  10. ↑ "Dem.Rep. of Congo at the FIBA Afrobasket 2017". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  11. ↑ "Congo DR at the FIBA AfroBasket 2021". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
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