A veteran tournament with continental resonance
In barely three editions Ewawa Plus has vaulted from convivial neighbourhood gathering to a fixture of the Central African sporting calendar. Scheduled for 9–10 August at the historic Square de Gaulle, the 2024 meet welcomes veteran squads from Kinshasa, Douala and Pointe-Noire alongside the host city of Brazzaville. The expansion is emblematic of a maturing basketball ecosystem whose informal networks increasingly translate into structured competition (FIBA Africa, 2023). Congolese officials discreetly underline that the growth mirrors the government’s objective of projecting a modern, culturally confident Congo on the regional stage.
Veteran hoops as a lever of soft power
Sport has long served as a low-friction avenue for diplomatic contact, and Brazzaville’s leadership appears intent on harnessing that dynamic. By inviting cities from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon—two neighbours with whom bilateral dossiers can at times prove delicate—the Ministry of Sports positions Ewawa Plus as a laboratory of trust. An adviser to the minister, requesting anonymity to speak freely, describes the event as “a handshake in sneakers: competitive on court, cooperative off it”. That narrative dovetails with President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s consistent messaging on regional solidarity, notably his 2019 address to the CEMAC summit urging “people-to-people bridges as foundations of peace”.
Square de Gaulle and the semantics of place
Selecting Square de Gaulle is no logistical accident. The plaza, flanked by colonial façades and modern ministries, embodies the city’s layered identity—French architectural lines, pan-African murals and, nowadays, basketball markings freshly repainted by local artists. Urban planners at the Municipality of Brazzaville stress that refurbishing the square for Ewawa Plus forms part of a broader downtown revitalisation programme financed through public-private partnerships. For visiting delegations, competing beneath palm trees and tricolour flags provides a visual reminder of Congo’s stability narrative, a message subtly amplified by state television’s prime-time coverage.
Culture, commerce and the night economy
Ewawa Plus is deliberately curated as more than a bracket of fixtures. Between games, DJs sample soukous classics, visual artists display canvases and chefs turn makeshift grills into showcases of regional gastronomy. According to the Chamber of Commerce, last year’s edition injected an estimated 180 million CFA francs into the local economy through accommodation, transport and food services. Hoteliers along Avenue Foch report occupancy spikes that coincide with the tournament weekend, a trend they anticipate will intensify given the expanded participant list. Such figures, while modest on a national ledger, are significant for small and medium enterprises that anchor Brazzaville’s night economy.
Regional connectivity through shared passion
The participation of Kinshasa’s River City Kings is logistically symbolic. Players will cross the Congo River by ferry, echoing daily commuter flows yet seldom highlighted success stories of cross-border cooperation. Cameroon’s Douala Braves arrive via direct ASKY Airlines flights inaugurated last year, illustrating improved air connectivity championed by ECCAS ministers (ECCAS transport communiqué, 2023). Sport thus becomes a narrative thread linking infrastructure corridors to human interaction, reinforcing policy commitments in a language citizens intuitively grasp: competition and celebration.
Observers from the African Union Sports Council note that veteran tournaments possess a unique diplomatic allure. Athletes in their forties and fifties often hold managerial or public-sector posts, enabling informal dialogues that bypass protocol. A post-game barbecue can facilitate more candid conversations about customs formalities or port fees than months of official correspondence.
Safeguarding health and veteran excellence
While Ewawa Plus emphasises festivity, organisers are acutely aware that veteran athletes face heightened medical risk. The Congolese Red Cross will station cardiology teams courtside, and mandatory electrocardiograms form part of the accreditation. This precaution aligns with the Ministry of Health’s preventive-care agenda, showcased during last year’s vaccination drives at sports venues. The tournament thereby doubles as a public-health touchpoint, subtly reinforcing state capacity while safeguarding participants.
Prospects for sustained sports diplomacy
Looking ahead, the Federation Congolaise de Basketball étudie the feasibility of rotating Ewawa Plus among CEMAC capitals, though Brazzaville would remain the ceremonial seat. Such a model could echo the regional football championship CHAN’s peripatetic success, distributing economic benefits while cementing a shared Central African brand. Private sponsors, including a Congolese telecom operator that prefers early anonymity, are reportedly negotiating multi-year naming rights—evidence that the event’s valuation is entering what one banker labels “the investible phase”.
For Congo-Brazzaville, that trajectory dovetails with strategic aspirations articulated in the Plan National de Développement 2022-2026, which identifies creative industries and sports as vectors for diversification. Veteran basketball, with its blend of nostalgia and pan-regional camaraderie, offers an elegant conduit for such ambitions.
A weekend poised to leave an enduring imprint
As the countdown to 9 August accelerates, ticket requests already outstrip last year’s allotment, prompting organisers to expand grandstand seating by 30 %. What began as a local scrimmage now sits at the intersection of diplomacy, economics and cultural renaissance. Should the projected attendance materialise, the crowd’s collective cheer may reverberate well beyond the hardwood, amplifying a narrative of a Congo confidently engaging its neighbours through the universality of sport.
In a region often scrutinised for its challenges, Ewawa Plus offers a contrasting image: veterans chasing rebounds under tropical twilight, spectators dancing to ndombolo beats, and officials exchanging business cards with a cordiality that even formal summits sometimes strain to replicate. For Brazzaville, that image is no small victory.
