South Sudan’s men’s basketball squad is on the verge of making FIBA World Cup history.

The Republic of South Sudan, Africa’s youngest republic, might soon make basketball history. The ‘Bright Stars’ are one game away from joining four other African teams in the FIBA World Cup, which will be contested in the Asian tri-nations of Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines from August to September 2023.

South Sudan’s Bright Stars have confounded critics by winning all but one of the nine qualifying games in the Africa FIBA Basketball qualifiers, led by former NBA player Luol Deng.

South Sudan, known for having the tallest people in Africa, has a long history of basketball. The late Manute Bol, the NBA’s second African-born player, and joint tallest player was selected here in 1985.

His accomplishments in the mid-1980s and early 1990s sparked an interest in basketball among many young Sudanese. After retiring, he went home and became actively engaged in South Sudan’s independence fight from the larger Sudan. He paved the door for many more Sudanese-born players, including current South Sudan Basketball Federation President Luol Deng.

Deng was granted the Order of the British Empire in July for his engagement and efforts in basketball despite having dual citizenship of English and South Sudanese descent. This validates his attempts to expand the game beyond his club and national bounds.

Former Sudanese basketball players established the South Sudan Basketball Federation in 2011 and joined FIBA in December 2013. Because to the absence of infrastructure in Juba and other places, the majority of the players worked overseas. The Federation is planning on creating a competitive league for both men and women.

The Bright Stars fell to Kenya in the FIBA Afrobasket qualifications in January 2020, but they rapidly recovered to become World Cup favorites. The club had won four of their previous five games before to the setback.

After Algeria withdrew due to COVID-19 concerns, a chance to qualify for the Afrobasket tournament appeared in November 2020. Cape Verde, Chad, and South Sudan competed in the African Basketball Invitational, with the winner qualifying for the Afrobasket in 2021.

Deng took on the task of creating a competitive squad of young players, many of whom had previously played overseas. Using the FastScout Pro technology, the squad has grown in strength, becoming a serious challenger for the World Cup.

The FastScout Pro tool is a platform designed to monitor players’ performance throughout games, delivering data to managers and the technical bench to help them decide on plays and how to approach particular games.

The South Sudanese squad is ranked #1 in Africa in the FIBA Power Rankings when the next round of qualifiers begins in November of this year. Some national team players also play for the South Sudanese basketball league squad, Cobra Sport.

The squad competed in the 2022 Basketball Africa League, a FIBA and NBA cooperation to develop and expose African talent to the rest of the globe.

Padiet Wang, a guard who comes off the bench to make an impact on the court, Deng Ring, who plays for the Newfound Rangers in Canada, and Nuni Omot, who plays in Puerto Rico after briefly playing for the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets in the NBA Summer League, are among the team’s talented players.

The players returned from the Window 4 World Cup qualifiers to a hero’s welcome from South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir. The qualifications are the fourth round of games for African nations attempting to qualify for the World Cup. Window 5 qualifiers will be used in the final round in November.

The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) pronounced the Bright Stars to be on the verge of triumph on their Twitter account.

Juba International Airport virtually came to a halt as relatives, friends, and supporters of their favorite basketball team arrived. Padiet Wang, a team member, photographed and uploaded the joyous celebrations on his Instagram page.

As the world’s youngest democratic republic, the Bright Stars will attempt to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in the final Window 5 from February 24 to 26, 2023.