South Sudan men's national basketball team
Men's national basketball team representing South Sudan
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The South Sudan men's national basketball team is the national basketball team representing South Sudan. It was established in May 2011, and became a member of FIBA on November 24th 2013.[2][3] They are nicknamed the Bright Stars.
| |||
| FIBA ranking | 25  1 (3 March 2026)[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Joined FIBA | 2013 | ||
| FIBA zone | FIBA Africa | ||
| National federation | SSBF | ||
| Coach | Luol Deng | ||
| Nickname | Bright Stars | ||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Appearances | 1 | ||
| FIBA World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 1 | ||
| Afrobasket | |||
| Appearances | 2 | ||
|
| |||
| First international | |||
Unofficial Power 86–84 South Sudan  (Juba, South Sudan; 13 July 2011) Official  Egypt 87–76 South Sudan (Cairo, Egypt; 12 March 2017) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
 Libya 52–115 South Sudan (Moçâmedes, Angola; 14 August 2025) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
South Sudan 83–115 Serbia  (Quezon City, Philippines; 30 August 2023) | |||
South Sudan has already played at two AfroBasket tournaments (2021, 2025), one FIBA World Cup (2023) and one Olympic Games (2024).
History
2011–19
The team played its first unofficial match in Juba against Ugandan club champions Power on 13 July 2011. Power won the match 86–84.[4]
In 2016, the team played in an exhibition tournament named Indigenous Basketball Competition in Vancouver, Canada.[5]
On 9 January 2016, it was announced by the South Sudan Basketball Federation that Jerry Steele would become the new head coach of the men's national team for preparation of the 2017 AfroBasket competition. Through the agreement Steele would be under contract until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.[6]
In the 2017 AfroBasket qualifiers, the team was placed in Zone 5 Group A, with Egypt, Kenya, Rwanda. South Sudan played its first official international game on 12 March 2017, against Egypt in Cairo.[7] They would lose to Egypt by 11 points (87–76) in the first match on 12 March. Two days later the national team got it first victory in group stage against Kenya by 2 (68–66). The next day, the team relieved its next loss by ten (80–90) to Rwanda, later placing them in the Classification game. On 12 March, the team would beat Kenya in the Classification game in OT (84–89).
Coach Steele and the South Sudan Basketball Federation parted ways by mutual agreement on 3 October 2017.
On 7 November 2017, Scott Catt was appointed to be the new head coach of the men's national team by the South Sudan Basketball Federation. Madut Bol, son of the late Manute Bol, was also named as assistant head coach of the men's national team.[8]
2020–present
In November 2020, former NBA All-Star Luol Deng became the president of the SSBF.[9] He also briefly coached the team. In September 2021, Royal Ivey, assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets, became the head coach of the team.[10] At AfroBasket 2021, South Sudan made its debut at a major tournament and reached the round of 16 after defeating Uganda and Cameroon in the preliminary round. In the round of 16, South Sudan beat Kenya, in the quarterfinals the team lost to defending champions Tunisia.
In the following 2023 FIBA World Cup qualification games, the Bright Stars impressed and had an unbeaten record in the first round (6–0), beating the defending African champions Tunisia twice and qualifying for their first World Cup in the third round with two games left. In the second round, again coached by Royal Ivey, they had another successful streak in order to qualify for South Sudan's first-ever World Cup in 2023.[11]
On August 28, South Sudan earned its first World Cup victory with a dominant win over China in Quezon City, Philippines.[12] South Sudan qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris by finishing as the best African team in the World Cup, beating Angola in their final game to qualify for their first-ever Olympics.[13]
In exhibition play leading up to the 2024 Paris Olympics, South Sudan played the United States and lost by just one point, 100–101, to a team led by four former NBA MVP winners, including LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.[14] Marial Shayok scored 25 points for South Sudan.[15]
On the opening day of the Olympics, South Sudan stunned Puerto Rico for their first Olympic victory in the first game of group play, winning 90–79.[16] Carlik Jones led the way with 19 points.[17] The Bright Stars lost their two following games to the United States[18] and Serbia, and thus did not advance past the preliminary stage.[19]
Competitive record
Olympic Games
| Summer Olympic Games record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | L |
 2016 | Did not enter | ||||
 2020 | |||||
 2024 | Preliminary round | 9th | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Total | Best: 9th | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
Record against other teams at the Olympics
| Country | W–L |
|---|---|
 Puerto Rico | 1–0 |
 United States | 0–1 |
| Serbia | 0–1 |
| Total record | 1–2 |
| Overall historic score | 261–278 |
Last updated: 1 August 2024
FIBA World Cup
FIBA AfroBasket
| AfroBasket record | Qualification record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | L | GP | W | L |
 2015 |
Did not enter | Did not enter | ||||||
 2017 | Did not qualify | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||
 2021 | Quarter-finals | 7th | 5 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 8 | 5 |
 2025 | Qualification to quarterfinals | 10th | 4 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Total | Quarter-finals | 9 | 4 | 5 | 23 | 14 | 9 | |
Team
Current roster
Roster as of the AfroBasket 2025.[20]
| South Sudan men's national basketball team roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Head coaches
The following is a list of all head coaches of South Sudan:
| Coach | Tenure | Major tournaments |
|---|---|---|
| Deng Lek & Bil Duany | 2011–2016 | – |
| Jerry Steele | 2016–2017 | – |
| Scott Catt | 2017–?[21][22] | – |
| Ajou Deng | 2020[23] | – |
 Luol Deng | 2020–2021; 2023[24] | – |
| Royal Ivey | 2021–present | 2021 AfroBasket 2023 World Cup 2024 Summer Olympics |
