Egypt name 12-man squad for World Cup qualifying window in Dakar

Agusti Bosch has announced Egypt’s final 12-man squad for the fourth window of the African qualifiers for the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup, with the matches set to take place in Senegal later this month.

The fourth qualifying window will be held in the capital, Dakar, from 27 to 30 August.

The Egypt squad is made up of Amr El Gendy, Ehab Amin, Ibrahim Zahran, Omar El Sheikh, Mohamed Taha, Adam Moussa, Ali Omar, Patrick Gardner, Omar Tarek, Hamdy Fathy, Khaled Abdel Nasser and Anas Osama.

Tarek El-Saeed, vice-president of the Egyptian Basketball Federation, will lead the national team delegation in Dakar.

Head coach Agusti Bosch will be supported by Alfred Bosch and Ramy Genedy, while Islam Gomaa will serve as team doctor. The staff also includes fitness coach Ahmed Fayeq, performance analyst Abdelrahman El-Gelad, recovery specialist Ali Moussa and administrative director Sameh Salah.

Egypt are in a group alongside Angola, Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal.

The qualifying competition is being played on a home-and-away basis. The group winners and runners-up will qualify for the 2027 World Cup, along with the best-ranked team finishing third.

Egypt head into the fourth window with nine points collected during the previous stage of the qualifiers. They currently sit fifth in their group.

Their campaign in Dakar begins against Senegal on Thursday at 21:30 local time. Egypt will then face Cote d’Ivoire in their second game on Friday at 15:30.

The Pharaohs will complete their schedule in Dakar against the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Sunday, with that game also scheduled to start at 15:30.

Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the three teams in the group that Egypt did not play during the previous stage of the qualifiers.

The fourth window therefore represents Egypt’s first opportunity in the current campaign to face those three opponents. With the team starting the window in fifth place on nine points, the results in Dakar will be important to its position in the group and its hopes of reaching the 2027 World Cup finals.

The tournament in Dakar will run across four days, from 27 to 30 August, and Egypt will play three matches during that period. Coach Agusti Bosch has now settled on the final squad and staff who will oversee the team’s bid to improve its standing in the group.