Cote d'Ivoire play Tunisia in AfroBasket final

Two-time AfroBasket champions Cote d'Ivoire and Tunisia clash in the 2021 AfroBasket final slated for Sunday 5 September 2021 from 6pm in search for a third African gong. 

Cote d'Ivoire who were in the same group as Kenya's Morans, playing for a 88-70 victory against the home boys in a last-minute charge to get their campaign off to winning start head to the final with a losing history against the Tunisians. 

The last time the two faced off in an official competition, Tunisia ousted Cote d'Ivoire 60-57 in the semi-finals of the 2011 edition of AfroBasket in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in a tournament where Tunisia clinched their first-ever AfroBasket title.

In the build-up to the AfroBasket 2021, two weeks ago, Tunisia destroyed Cote d'Ivoire in two of their warm-up games in Tunisia.

Cote d'Ivoire head coach Ignacio Lezcano has acknowledged the uphill task that his team faces: "I know they are the favorites. We have played them twice during the preparations and they killed us on those games," the Spaniard explained in an interview with FIBA Africa.

"They are ready to kill us again. But it's a basketball game. Senegal were favourites [to beat us] but we were able to compete, we were to play very good basketball, high quality basketball. And tomorrow [Sunday, September 5] we will try to do the same. I might sound a bit arrogant, but we didn't come here to just to play the Semi-Finals or the Final, we want to win every game." 

Cote d'Ivoire reached the final for the first time since 2009 when they finished second after falling short to Angola.

Tunisia, on the other hand, reached the most important game of AfroBasket for the second straight time after clinching their second title at home four years ago when they outplayed then-defending champions Nigeria.

The Tunisians have been frontrunners to win the AfroBasket 2021 well before Day 1 when they trounced Guinea 82-46 in Group B's opener.

They were tested on a number of occasions, for instance, when they rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat Egypt 87-81.

Then, in the semi-finals, Tunisia faced their biggest test against a highly-motivated Cape Verde team, but they prevailed to keep a perfect record.

Additional information by FIBA