South Sudan brings home awards from FIBA Congress 🇸🇸🏆

🏀 The world’s youngest nation is setting a precedent in the intersection of sports and nation branding 🌍🇸🇸

Yesterday in Manila, South Sudan's Basketball Federation was celebrated for its incredible achievements at the FIBA Congress! 🇸🇸🏆

🥇 First Place: Biggest Social Media Followers Growth (+130K across all platforms and counting, the largest fanbase by an African federation in Sub-Saharan Africa!)
🥈 Second Place: Most Improved Team

Former NBA all-star Luol Deng was elected President of the Federation in 2019. Under his leadership, the federation has been putting in the work on and off the court to become arguably the most inspiring sports story coming out of Africa in recent years.

📌 In 2021, the men’s national team secured their first major tournament appearance at the #Afrobasket. They lost in the quarterfinals to Afrobasket Champions Tunisia 🇹🇳.

The team came back at the FIBA WC Qualifiers and achieved an extraordinary feat by securing its first ticket to the World Cup with a near perfect record (they only lost one game to Senegal 🇸🇳).

Off the court, the Bright Stars’ success story has been picked up by a few brands including MTN. Most recently, the South Sudanese Basketball Federation signed a 3-year sponsorship deal with Chinese sports manufacturer #Peak providing all national teams, including the recently established junior teams, with equipment.

#Peak, whose main revenue streams come from basketball has already entered previous deals with several other African federations (maybe another brand to follow 👀...)

The FIBA World Cup tips off tomorrow ! Five teams will represent Africa, with South Sudan and Cabo Verde 🇨🇻 both making their debuts.