Former WNBA player and Mozambique legend Clarisse Machanguana was officially enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame on April 21 in Berlin, Germany.
She was inducted alongside Sue Bird (United States), Céline Dumerc (France), Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Ismenia Pauchard (Chile), Hedo Türkoğlu (Türkiye) and Wang Zhizhi (China), while Ludwik Miętta-Mikołajewicz (Poland) was honoured as a coach.
Machanguana is widely regarded as a trailblazer for women’s basketball in Africa, having built a reputation as one of the continent’s most influential players on the international stage and among the early African athletes to compete in the WNBA.
The former centre enjoyed a distinguished international career, leading Mozambique to a silver medal at the 2013 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket. The achievement came 22 years after she helped her country secure gold at the 1991 African Games at just 15 years old.
Her rise to global prominence began in the United States, where she reached the NCAA Final in 1997 with Old Dominion. During her college career, she scored 1,813 points, consistently leading her teams in scoring and field-goal percentage, with an average of 18.3 points per game and a 62% shooting rate.
FBA Hall of Fame Class 2026
In 1997, she was named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team and earned Kodak All-American honours, adding to earlier accolades that included CAA Player of the Year and a place on the CAA All-Freshman Team.
Machanguana was drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks and went on to play in the WNBA for the Sparks, Charlotte Sting and Orlando Miracle. She also enjoyed a lengthy professional career in Europe, competing in top leagues in Spain, Italy and France, as well as the EuroLeague Women.
Off the court, she has remained influential through the Clarisse Machanguana Foundation, established in 2014 to empower young people in Mozambique through sport, education and health programmes.
The long-running battle over the Zulu throne has entered a critical new phase, with senior royal family members making a final legal push to reopen the case at South Africa’s highest court.Prince Mbonisi, uncle to King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, together with 23 members of the royal family, has approached the Constitutional Court seeking to overturn its earlier refusal to grant them leave to appeal the king’s official recognition.In court papers filed […]
