The Guinea national basketball team represents

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

in international

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

competitions. It is administered by the Fédération Guinéenne de Basket-Ball (FGBB). Guinea has played at the

AfroBasket The AfroBasket (alternatively known as the FIBA Africa Championship, FIBA African Championship, or FIBA AfroBasket) is the men's basketball continental championship contested by the senior national teams of Africa Africa is the world's s ...

six times, with its best performance being a fourth place in

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

History

Establishment as an African pioneer (1962)

Guinea was one of five countries that participated at the African Championship 1962 in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, Egypt. Guinea's fourth place finish there remains its best result at the

.AfroBasket 2021 – Team Profile: Guinea

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

, 10 August 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.

Three Afrobasket qualifications in 50 years (1964–2015)

After the inauguration tournament, Guinea almost completely disappeared from the Afrobasket. The only exception was the time 1980–1985 where the team qualified for the Afrobasket on 3 out of 4 occasions.

Cedric Mansare becomes the leading player (2017–2020)

For the AfroBasket 2017 qualification, Cedric Mansare made his debut for the team. The 35-year-old

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

has become the go-to player for Guinea ever since. After a surprising Qualifiers campaign, in which they beat former champion and medal contender

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

, Guinea finished the regional play-off tied with

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

(3–3) in second place, but the Guineans fell short of automatic qualification for the Final Round due to a lower goal-average. Senegal and Mali secured automatic,

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

was eliminated, but Guinea was awarded a wild card – along with

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

. The FIBA AfroBasket 2017 marked Guinea's first appearance in the tournament in more than 32 years.

Unexpected success (2021)

At the

AfroBasket 2021 qualification The AfroBasket 2021 qualification was a basketball competition that was played from January 2020 to July 2021, to determine the fifteen FIBA Africa nations who would join the automatically qualified host Rwanda at the AfroBasket 2021 final tourn ...

, with Guinea needing to beat

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

in the final day of the Qualifiers, Cedric Mansare made four of his eight three-pointers attempts to finish with a team-high 18 points in the 80–71 victory. Throughout the campaign, Mansare averaged 11.5 points per game. Joining Mansare as Guinea central players, were

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

Ousmane Dramé Ousmane Dramé (born 25 August 1992) is a French footballer who playsas a winger for Portuguese club C.D. Cova da Piedade. Career Early career Of Malian descent, Dramé began his career playing for the Centre de Formation de Paris, a youth s ...

, who contributed 8.2 rebounds in six games, and guard Ahmed Doumbia. Ahmed Doumbia only played the last three games of the Qualifiers, but he was immense for Guinea, averaging 13 points and 5.7 assists. With Guinea on the brink of elimination, Doumbia explained why he didn't want to miss such opportunity. "We want to bring our flag to the AfroBasket, putting our country on the basketball map. This is my main motivation."

Željko Zečević takes over (2021–present)

In 2021, the team qualified again. This was accomplished under the Serbian head coach

Željko Zečević Željko Zečević ( sr-cyr, Жељко Зечевић; born 21 October 1963) is a Serbian professional basketball coach, who is the current head coach of AS Salé of the Moroccan Division Excellence. He is also the head coach of the Guinea nati ...

who replaced Frenchman Michel Perrin at the helm ahead of the decisive last window of the Qualifiers in February 2021. As of 2021, Zečević had coaching experience not only as head coach of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

at the

AfroBasket 2009 AfroBasket 2009 was the 25th FIBA Africa Championship, played under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Basketball, the basketball sport governing body, and the African zone thereof. At stake were the three berths allocated to Afric ...

but he had also managed a number of African clubs. Some of his coaching highlights in African included a Second-Place in the 2019 FIBA AfroLeague at the helm of Morocco's AS Sale. Zečević had further led US Monastir to the Third-Place of the

2017 FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup The 2017 FIBA Africa Champions Cup was the 32nd edition of the FIBA Africa Basketball Club Championship, the international basketball club tournament of FIBA Africa. The tournament was held in Radès, Tunisia from 11 to 20 December 2017. The A ...

. At the

AfroBasket 2021 FIBA AfroBasket 2021 was the 30th edition of the FIBA AfroBasket, a men's basketball continental championship of Africa. The tournament was hosted by Rwanda for the first time. It was originally scheduled to take place between 17 and 29 August 20 ...

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

, Guinea was drawn in Group B alongside

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

and

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, which are three former AfroBasket champions. Guinea entered as the lowest-ranked of the 16-team AfroBasket 2021 line-up. Yet, they finished 8th out of 16, Guinea's best placement in almost 60 years.

Performance at AfroBasket

Guinea has played at the AfroBasket (formerly the FIBA Africa Championship) six times, with its first appearance during the inaugural season in 1962. Its first appearance was its best one as the team finished in fourth place. After 18 years of absence, Guinea returned to the tournament in 1980 and later played in the 1983 and 1985 editions. After another 22 years of absence, the team returned in 2017. In the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

tournament, which Guinea qualified for through a wild card, they reached the quarter-finals for the first time. Fourth place

Performance at AfroCan

Fourth place

Team

Current roster

Roster for the

Past rosters

Roster for the

AfroBasket 2017 FIBA AfroBasket 2017 was the 29th edition of the AfroBasket, a men's basketball continental championship of Africa. The tournament was jointly hosted by Tunisia and Senegal. Angola was proposed by FIBA Africa to host the tournament, an offer decl ...

. , valign="top" , ;Head coach * Ousmane Tafsir Camara ;Assistant coaches * Ansoumane Toure ---- ;Legend: *Club – describes last
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on 6 September 2017 At the 2015 Afrobasket qualification:Guinea , 2015 African Championship for Men
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on 19 August 2015

Under-18 team

At the 2020

FIBA Africa Under-18 Championship The FIBA U18 AfroBasket, previously known as the FIBA U18 African Championship, is a biennial international youth basketball competition consisting of under-18 men's national teams organised by FIBA Africa. The tournament also serves as qualific ...

, Egypt, the Guineans finished fourth. The team was coached by

who later became head coach of Guinea's senior team.

Kit

2015 –

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

References

External links

*
FIBA profile

Africabasket – Guinea Men National Team
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guinea National Basketball Team Men's national basketball teams

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

Basketball in Guinea 1962 establishments in Guinea Basketball teams established in 1962 National sports teams established in 1962