The Silverbacks, Uganda’s national men’s basketball team, squad for the qualifiers of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 has been summoned.
Eleven of the 12 players have been named, with a 12th name expected to be named before the team departs for a training camp in Alexandria on Thursday.
Albert Ahabwe, the Silverbacks manager, commented: “We would have released the 12th player by end of today but we had some challenges with paper work of particular players and we are taking care of that before we make a public announcement of who the other player will be.”
Debutant American-born Sibande Nike Dejur headlines the 11 players called up, filling the spot of a naturalised player – every team is availed with one position for a naturalised position which has in the past given to Ishmail Wainright, Brandon Davies or Jackson Moni.
Sibande currently features for Niners Chemnitz of the Basketball Bundesliga and the EuroCup.
The locally based players in the squad are Fayed Baale, Joel Kayiira, Titus Lual Odeke, Peter Obleng, and Edgar Munaaba.
Uganda Silverbacks are among 16 African teams competing for five available World Cup places, with the tournament set for Doha next year.
Uganda has been drawn in Group D of the Qualifiers alongside Mali, Angola, and Egypt.
Egypt will host this Group D at the Borg Al Arab Sports Hall in Alexandria.
How to qualify
16 teams will play the Basketball World Cup 2027 African Qualifiers during five windows to qualify five teams to the World Cup scheduled in 2027 in Doha, Qatar.
In the First Round, the 16 teams will be divided into four groups of four. Each team will face the other three in their group in two tournaments played over the first three windows with six games per team in total.
These windows will be in November 2025, February 2026, and July 2026.
The top three teams in each group will advance to the Second Round of the African Qualifiers where they will join three teams from another group.
All teams will carry over the results from the First Round, ensuring every single game has meaning in the Road to Qatar 2027.
In the Second Round, each team will play the three teams coming from the other group in two more tournaments played over two more windows scheduled in August 2026 and February 2027.
At the end of these additional six games per team, the top two teams in each group along with the best third team will qualify to the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027.
The qualification process follows the FIBA Competition System successfully used for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
The Contingent
Silverbacks Squad – Fayed Baale, Joel Kayiira, Titus Lual Odeke, Deng Geu, Jonathan Komagum, Peter Obleng, Robinson Opong Odoch, Tejan Joel Rugette, Nike Sibande Dejur, Edgar Munaaba, Naseef Lubowa
Coaching team – Goran Lojo (Head), Mandy Juruni (Assistant), Secerovic Armin (Second assistant/Video Analyst), Andrew Tendo (Third Assistant)