African basketball championship qualifiers: FAP, Overdose handed tricky group stage pairings.

The zonal showpiece will be staged in Brazzaville, Congo, from Saturday, October 24, to Wednesday, October 28. 

Seven teams will battle for two spots in the final phase of the 2026 edition of the Women’s Basketball League Africa which stands out as Africa’s biggest club basketball competition.

Overdose is paired in Group A of the zonal qualifiers alongside Gabon’s Charbo Squad, Interclubs of Congo Brazzaville and the National social security fund’s CNSS basketball club of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

CNSS is rated as the biggest threat to the North West Region club which is aiming to qualify for the final phase of the championship for the first time since 2023. 

The team has performed excellently in the Central African zonal qualifiers in recent years, qualifying for the final phase on multiple occasions, including last season. 

The club reached the forthcoming zonal qualifiers after recently retaining the winners’ trophy of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national challenge cup competition.

Charbo Squad will enter the tournament after emerging as the champion of the 2025/2026 edition of the Gabonese women’s top-tier basketball championship.

FAP which is seeking to reach the final phase of the continental championship for the third successive season, is placed in Group B of the qualifiers alongside ASB Hatari of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Anges Noirs of Congo Brazzaville. 

The Yaounde-based club is rated as the outright favorite in the pool. But it is expected to exercise a high degree of caution when going up against the likes of Hatari.

The Congolese team has recently emerged as a major force. It locked horns with CNSS in the final of the Congolese national challenge cup competition, losing by just eight points at the end.

Anges Noirs are also tipped to be a dark horse in the pool and the larger entirety of the tournament.

The team qualified for the forthcoming zonal qualifiers owing to its status as champion of the 2026 edition of Congo Brazzaville’s women’s topflight basketball championship. 

The final phase of the 2026 Women’s Basketball League Africa will be organized in Egypt in December this year. It will assemble 12 clubs. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3947 of Thursday October 22, 2026