It happened 50 years after the first time, in the AmeriCup 2025 Qualifying Window.

No other event in Cuban basketball this year rivalled the joy of the men’s national team’s victory over the United States in the Qualifying Window for the Fiba AmeriCup 2025, with a resounding 81-67 scoreline.

It happened at the Havana Sports City Coliseum and was the first home win over a North American men’s team. The other came more than 50 years ago, at the 1971 Pan American Games in Cali.

The event in itself represents the international rise in the men’s game, expressed in the team’s place in the qualification places for the Fiba AmeriCup 2025, after also beating Bahamas and losing to Puerto Rico.

But beyond the raw result, a competitive team is evident, no matter the opponent they face. And the best thing is that experts still see considerable room for improvement, if some players missing for various reasons are incorporated.

In that sense, men like Howard Saint-Roos, Reinaldo García, Yoanki Mencía, Jasiel Rivero, Pedro Bombino, among others, played a leading role in guiding the team led by Osmel Planas.

The women, who once dominated the Caribbean region, to the point of winning 16 of the 24 Centrobasket tournaments held to date, had a different reality.

The sixth place achieved in the version played in Irapuato, Mexico, calls for deep analysis, in order to find solutions to return to stellar levels.

Failure to qualify for the Fiba AmeriCup in Santiago de Chile 2025 leaves a void that will be difficult to fill in the competitive scenario of the upcoming season.

However, the women found solace in the «small format», as they not only secured their place in the Fiba AmeriCup 3×3 Basketball San Juan 2024, but also managed to stay in the competition and were included in the table of the eight best teams in the continent.

The performance acquires relevant nuances if it is known that this was the debut of a women’s team in these competitions and came last in the ranking of America for not having international participations.

The men did not suffer the same fate and fell in the qualifiers, limited by the absence of one of the members of the squad, because the United States did not grant him a visa to enter Puerto Rico.

The recruiting section left good results in leagues in Central and South America, both for men and women, in addition to the placement of athletes in other regions of the world, including Europe.

Precisely in the so-called Old Continent, several were able to be crowned in some of the competitions they faced with their clubs, such as Isabela Jourdain, Jasiel Rivero and Karel Guzmán.

Domestic activity closed with the absence of the National Ascending League and therefore of the elite tournament, but successfully hosted the 60th National School Games, with Havana at the top of each gender, and Santiago de Cuba double silver medallists.

The 2025 will test the aspiration to attend the men’s Pan American tournament, and to do so, the last qualifying window in February, which includes visits to Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, will have to be faced in the best possible way.

The challenges facing the women’s team are the debts they have incurred during the campaign that is now coming to an end.