Mozambican Basketball Federation commits to settling $15,000 debt to FIBA Africa

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Mozambican Basketball Federation commits to settling $15,000 debt to FIBA Africa

8:41 CAT | 06 Oct 2025

Screengrab: Plantel OC Moz

The Mozambican Basketball Federation (FMB) revealed yesterday that it owes $15,000 to FIBA Africa for expenses incurred by the women’s national team during the 29th edition of Afrobasket.

“We received this news yesterday [Saturday], through some media outlets’ social media, in which the president of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Africa appears to be talking about a debt of approximately $15,000. It’s true, the federation owes this $15,000 and more,” admitted FMB president Paulo Mazivila.

At issue is a debt owed by the FMB to FIBA Africa, the organisation that organises continental basketball competitions, for Mozambique’s expenses during this year’s Afrobasket women’s tournament, which took place in Ivory Coast.

At a press conference in Maputo on Sunday, the Mozambican federation admitted its debts, adding that it has other debts with the Sunlive Group, which organised the national team’s training camp in Portugal, with the VIP Hotel in Mozambique, and others related to player allowance payments.

The FMB’s initial calculations indicated a need for just over $254,000 to cover the expenses of the national team’s participation in AfroBasket 2025, in which Mozambique was eliminated by Mali in the quarter-finals.

The federation received aid from the office of the First Lady of Mozambique, totalling $187,000, with just over $120,000 disbursed. Other travel expenses were paid directly by the office, according to information provided by the FMB president.

The FMB justified the insufficient funds to cover expenses by the fact that it had left Portugal, where the team was training, for Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast, three days before the start of the competition.

“We had set a specific number of days to stay in Abidjan. We wanted to pay the FIBA fee, but the travel agency contacted us saying we had to leave Portugal early for Abidjan because there were space constraints. With our early arrival in Abidjan, we had to pay for hotels, transportation to training, food, and all other expenses for our stay three days in advance, which cost us a lot,” explained the FMB president, insisting that the $187,000 previously announced was not enough to cover expenses.

According to the federation, the government has committed to paying off the debt to FIBA for $15,000, noting that FIBA is aware of the availability of this fund.

“Unfortunately (…) the treasury has not yet disbursed the funds into the federation’s accounts. I contacted the FIBA president again a week ago to inform him that we still don’t have the funds available in the federation’s accounts to pay the debt. However, the funds exist, the Ministry of Finance has already released them, and we are waiting,” added Paulo Mazivila.

Even with this debt, the FMB president rejected any possibility of Mozambique being excluded from basketball competitions: “We are addressing this issue institutionally. We haven’t exhausted our efforts, and we have solutions for this.”

While promising to settle the debt in the coming days, Mazivila, who accuses the president of FIBA Africa, Aníbal Manave, of a lack of patriotism for publicly disclosing the situation.

Currently, the institutional debt of the Mozambican Basketball Federation amounts to around 3 million meticais, which is approximately $46,948.36 USD at the current exchange rate.

Source: Lusa / O País