Mozambican basketball champions to miss qualifications due to financial crisis

The board of the Mozambican multi-sport club Ferroviario de Maputo confirmed here on Thursday that its basketball team will miss the qualifiers for the African Basketball Champions Cup kicking off in Luanda, capital of Angola this coming Saturday.

"As you might (have been) informed, Mozambique has been hit by a serious crisis, the club is not an exception. Most of the funds that guarantee the functioning of the club come from sponsors and they are also struggling to operate," said the club's Executive Director Palma Pinto.

The basketball champions need an estimated 30,000 U.S. dollars to participate in the qualification phase. Three other teams, all of which are from Angola, are competing in the qualifiers.

In addition, the club is preparing to host the final phase of the Female African Basketball Cup, and says it is opting to dedicate its limited funds to that venture.

But shortage of funds is not the only reason that the team will miss the qualifiers in Angola. According to Pinto, another reason is that Ferroviario de Maputo's basketball team has not competed since August.

"Our team lacks competitiveness since the basketball championship ended. We have not played any other match and that makes us believe even if we go to Luanda, our performance would be very negative because our players are not in their best physical conditions to play (at) such a high level competition," said Pinto. Endit