How hosting the AmeriCup in Nicaragua can boost the sport's popularity in Central America

When the FIBA AmeriCup begins in Managua, it will not only crown a continental champion, but it will also bring basketball under the spotlight in Central America. Football has been the main sport in the region, and it is time for basketball to grow. Having the marquee national team tournament of the Americas in Nicaragua is a moment of difference to showcase world-class basketball in a region dominated by football—on television, on the playground, and in the subconscious of the public. Coverage will extend beyond the court, with fans also following sports gambling news tied to the competition. With the right planning and execution, AmeriCup 2025 can be the starting block for the sport, from Managua to San José, San Salvador to Panama City. The stage is set: August 22–31, Polideportivo Alexis Argüello—Nicaragua is a first-time host and competitor at the tournament.

Basketball in Nicaragua

Nicaragua was outside the FIBA World Ranking Top 100 as recently as 5 years ago. Since appointing Puerto Rican head coach David Rosario back in 2021, the national team has been making strides in the ranking, now sitting at No. 79. This represents a tremendous leap for a country that has little basketball tradition, but has been working to overcome that.

At the club level, with Rosario at the wheel, we have witnessed Real Esteli bring pride to the country as they are the only team to participate in all editions of the BCL Americas, and actually reached the Final in 2021 finishing second to Brazilian powerhouse Flamengo. Nationally, the team has been competing regularly and even at various events and categories throughout Central America, and this has allowed them to discover new talented players.

Currently, Nicaragua has around ten athletes playing at the collegiate level of basketball in the United States, mostly in the state of Florida. These athletes include rising prospects Norchad Omier and Kaleb Bernard, who will be joining the national team.

With the inclusion of these athletes and domestic league players such as long-time captain Francisco Garth, and other players such as Josmel Martínez, Andy Pérez, Jensen Campbell, Ponce Ferguson and naturalized Jared Ruiz, the Central American squad elevated their game in 2023 to beat more experienced teams such as Cuba and Virgin Islands and qualify for the AmeriCup Qualifiers - consolidating that they could compete against the strong teams of the continent.

With a spot in the Qualifiers, Nicaragua bid to be the host of the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 and was awarded the designation. Hosting the tournament is a serious challenge, but it represents the pinnacle of success for Nicaraguan basketball.

When the FIBA AmeriCup begins in Managua, it will not only crown a continental champion, but it will also bring basketball under the spotlight in Central America. Football has been the main sport in the region, and it is time for basketball to grow. Having the marquee national team tournament of the Americas in Nicaragua is a moment of difference to showcase world-class basketball in a region dominated by football—on television, on the playground, and in the subconscious of the public. Fans can also stay up to date with sports gambling news surrounding the tournament, adding another dimension of excitement for those following closely. With the right planning and execution, AmeriCup 2025 can be the starting block for the sport, from Managua to San José, San Salvador to Panama City.

Basketball in Nicaragua

Nicaragua was outside the FIBA World Ranking Top 100 as recently as 5 years ago. Since appointing Puerto Rican head coach David Rosario back in 2021, the national team has been making strides in the ranking, now sitting at No. 79. This represents a tremendous leap for a country that has little basketball tradition, but has been working to overcome that.

At the club level, with Rosario at the wheel, we have witnessed Real Esteli bring pride to the country as they are the only team to participate in all editions of the BCL Americas, and actually reached the Final in 2021, finishing second to Brazilian powerhouse Flamengo. Nationally, the team has been competing regularly and even at various events and categories throughout Central America, and this has allowed them to discover new talented players.

Currently, Nicaragua has around ten athletes playing at the collegiate level of basketball in the United States, mostly in the state of Florida. These athletes include rising prospects Norchad Omier and Kaleb Bernard, who will be joining the national team.

With the inclusion of these athletes and domestic league players such as long-time captain Francisco Garth, and other players such as Josmel Martínez, Andy Pérez, Jensen Campbell, Ponce Ferguson and naturalized Jared Ruiz, the Central American squad elevated their game in 2023 to beat more experienced teams such as Cuba and Virgin Islands and qualify for the AmeriCup Qualifiers - consolidating that they could compete against the strong teams of the continent.

With a spot in the Qualifiers, Nicaragua bid to be the host of the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 and was awarded the designation. Hosting the tournament is a serious challenge, but it represents the pinnacle of success for Nicaraguan basketball.

Expectations for the FIBA AmeriCup are towering. For the first time, the country will welcome many of the elite players in the Americas, and they want to impress at both the organizational and sporting level.

"This event will aid the growth of our basketball because the guys will have the chance to show their talent. As a team, we've been together for around 4 years and developed chemistry and a dynamic with established roles. Personally, I think it's beautiful to have this chance to represent Nicaragua and be here with the guys under David Rosario," said Jared Ruiz, who was born in Puerto Rico and is the leader of the team.

A huge opportunity for the country

For many sports, visibility is destiny. AmeriCup gathers national teams, stars, and storylines into a broadcast-ready spectacle that Central American media can spark around. The networks and streamers will have a timed, premium event to sell—and to narrate in Spanish, for local audiences that rarely have that level of basketball contained in the backyard. FIBA's official coverage and digital news cycle—group previews, player stories, and where to watch—of course will extend the reach to both casual and hardcore fans across the isthmus. That drumbeat matters because ongoing, high-quality content helps convert curiosity into a habit.

Events of this magnitude attract tourism, hotel nights, restaurant profits, ground transport, and merchandising. This influx matters not only in terms of revenue for municipal coffers but as proof-of-concept. It establishes to sponsors and officials that basketball can fit into budget lines and marketing calendars. When venue partners experience back-to-back full concourses and active fan zones, when brands attach activations to a successful run of the national team, when city bureaus announce international media mentions, money follows. And those dollars irreversibly support everything from refurbishing courts and building mini-arenas to school-based programs well after the final buzzer sounds. With the AmeriCup centralized in Managua with 12 national teams in a single venue, there is little scaling of operations, and concentrated economic benefits that are measurable and define a case to replicate or rotate future tournaments in the region.

One underappreciated benefit of hosting is staff development. Implementing AmeriCup requires deploying volunteers, making ticketing arrangements, preparing operations for broadcast, organizing team services, planning security, preparing medical and anti-doping plans, and more. Central American federations can send staff on-site to be immersed in the event and to learn live in a systematic way to return home and transfer that capacity. FIBA's event formats and qualifier windows leading into the tournament provide a rhythm and standardization process, which federations have the opportunity to impose on their own national calendar: preseason SuperCopa, mid-season cups, or national-team "open practices" that engage fans and media. The more times you work through that rhythm, the more professional the output becomes.

There is a very compelling picture for kids in Central America when they see Nicaragua lining up on an AmeriCup baseline, anthem jackets on, TV cameras rolling. It is Nicaragua's first AmeriCup appearance, and that is significant by itself in the regional context - it tells young kids in Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize, and beyond, that there are pathways, that they can improve, and that the ceiling for men's basketball in the region is higher now than it was ten years ago. If you are 12 years old and watch a near-neighbor line up beside the USA, Brazil, Canada, Argentina, Puerto Rico, or the Dominican Republic, you are more motivated to join a club, keep your sneakers on in the off-season, and you dream a little bigger.