Nairobi City Thunder players and officials celebrate their semi-final win over City Oilers of Uganda during the Africa Champions Clubs Road to Basketball Africa League 2025 Elite 16 East Africa Division qualifiers at the Moi International Sports Centre, Gymnasium on December 2, 2024.
Nairobi City Thunder are in seventh heaven. Their careful choice of words to express their emotions and what meant for their team told it all.
Amidst the celebrations of making history as the first Kenyan team to qualify for the five-year-old African Basketball League (BAL) on Monday night at Kenya’s cathedral of sports -- Moi International Sports Centre (MISC), the journey seems to have started for City Thunder.
The Kenyan champions overcame a spirited challenge by Ugandan champions City Oilers to win 72-62 in the tightly contested semi-final of the East Division Elite 16 to send the charged crowd at the MISC Indoor Arena into a frenzy.
City Thunder qualified alongside Kriol Stars from Cape Verde who stunned star-studded favourites Urunani of Burundi 90-82 in the other semi-final.
City Thunder and Kriol Stars, who will be making their maiden appearance at BAL, were to face off in the final last evening at the MISC Indoor Arena.
City Thunder defeated Kriol 104-71 in the pool stage.
The Kenyan club has succeeded where former national champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) failed.
City Thunder head coach Bradley Ibs, his deputy Sadat Gaya and skipper Tylor Ogwae say their ultimate dream is to go all the way and become African champions.
They hope that their qualification will help shape the country’s basketball and sports to a whole new level in terms of professionalism.
“Nothing is more inspiring to watch than the huge turnout of youngsters, who came to cheer these players, who all come from the same humble background,” said Ibs.
Strathmore University
“This is a historic moment for us and this country. My players left everything on the court and we couldn’t have done this without the huge support from our sponsors, Twende Sports, who believed in the team and dreams,” said Ibs as they now turn their focus preparations for 2025 BAL.
Ibs hailed his players for their resilience throughout the tournament to deliver a master class against City Oilers, who participated in 2024 BAL.
"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time as a country. We have worked hard for this for the last three months and it's a beautiful night and feeling," said Ongwae, who was signed by City Thunder this season from Niners Chemnitz, Germany.
Ongwae is optimistic that their qualification will help develop the game in the county with more youngsters taking up the sport. “I want Kenyan clubs to have a permanent place at BAL and this is just the start,” said Ongwae, a Kamusinga High and Strathmore University alumnus.
Gaya said history is made by guys who weather the storm and Thunders withstood it from City Oilers.
“The game was up and down and could have gone either way but our players executed well,” said Gaya.
“There is the conference and then the knock-out stage but I believe we can go far and we made the right step today,” said Gaya.
He said that the qualification is a wake-up call for Kenya. That Kenya is a sleeping giant in basketball.
The 2025 BAL will have 12 teams split into three conferences -- Kalahari, Nile and Sahara.
The Kalahari Conference group phase will be held on April 5 to 13 in Rabat, Morocco while the Sahara Conference group phase will be on April 24 to May 6 in Dakar, Senegal.
The Nile Conference will be held from Apirl 17 to 25 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Just what turned around Nairobi City Thunder’s fortunes to succeed where other Kenyan teams failed?
Thunder team manager Ojay said that the takeover of the club by Twende Sports last year marked the turning point for the team that was first called National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Stars, and later, International Christian Centre (ICC).
Twende Sports
NSSF Stars won the national league title in 2000, re-branded to ICC in 2002 up until 2010 when it changed to Nairobi City Thunder. Twende Sports took over the team 13 years later in 2023.
The result? Thunder won the 2024 KBF men’s Premier League unbeaten. They turned professionalism with players signing contracts. The upshot was that the club could now attract top-quality players in the country and beyond.
These players played a key role in City Thunder’s victory from the pool stage where they were unbeaten.
Ongwae is one of the players. He came from the Niners that won the 2023/2024 European Cup.
It is Ongwae who guided Kenya to a historic second-place finish at the 2019 Fiba Afro.
Thunders also have 2022 BAL winner Ater James Majok from US Monastir of Tunisia.
Majok was born in Sudan and raised in Australia but plays for Lebanon.
Other new signings that starred for Thunders in this qualifiers are Derrick Ogechi from Cordova, Spain), Nigerians Uchenna Ireogbi (Al Hashid, Iraq) and Harouna Abdoulaye (AS Douanes, Senegal).
“That is the change we are seeing now, the change we yearned for in having players fully focused on delivery. A settled player will always deliver on the court knowing that there is something for him,” said Ojay.
He said they were no longer playing basketball just for fun.
