Former Angolan star Luis Costa outlines meaning of playing for national team

BENGUELA (Angola) – After years of dreaming about playing for his Angolan national team three decades ago, Luis Costa recalls how he invested his effort, skills and hardworking to make it happen.
It didn’t take long before former Angola coach Mario Palma noticed something special about Costa and invited him for a training camp in Portugal ahead of the FIBA AfroBasket 2001 in Morocco.
Costa may have been left out of the Angolan final roster for the African Championship in 2001, but it was just the beginning of a journey that he describes as “lifetime change.”
“For us, Angolans, the national team is an institution. It’s one of the most revered organisations in our country,” said Costa, who currently serves as a member of the Angolan Basketball Federation (FAB).
A former small forward known for his aggressiveness at both ends of the floor, Costa went on to help his country win two African Championship titles in 2007 and 2009.
Luis Costa helped Angola clinch the AfroBasket 2009 title in Libya
Playing at the Beijing Olympics 2008 was, Costa admitted, was the cherry on the cake.
And, with Angola hosting the first window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers in his hometown of Benguela, Costa took some of his time to share his story with FIBA.basketball.
“Opportunities of playing for your national team don’t come easy,” Costa noted. “Every athlete dreams about playing for their national team, and I embraced this mindset at an early age when I saw my country rise to the top of African basketball.”
A two-time African champion, Beijing Olympian and with countless titles at domestic level, Costa says that the World Cup 2023 has already started with the African Qualifiers.
“People may say that the World Cup will start in a couple of years. No, in my mind it starts with the Qualifiers. All teams should take the World Cup Qualifiers seriously,” the 43-year-old noted.
Luis Costa in action at AfroBasket 2009
The 1.95m (6ft 4in) forward stressed that “growing up and watching our national team being respected in Africa and around the world was catalyst to my basketball dreams,” said Costa who started playing basketball as a seven-year-old in 1985 in his hometown of Benguela before signing for major clubs in the capital Luanda.
“After all these years since I retired I still can’t describe the feeling of wearing my national team uniform and singing the national anthem. It was a unique experience.”
Are there any remarkable moments during your national team career? “Many,” Costa replied without hesitation.
Dirk Nowitzki’s Germany beat Angola in three overtimes in Japan 2006
“Playing for a national team should be a privilege. It’s a brutal experience because of the chance of playing against world-class players.
“The [FIBA Basketball Basketball] World Cup 2006 was special as it marked the transition of generations,” said Costa who won his first AfroBasket title in 2007 in Luanda.
“Playing for my national team in my hometown [Angola played the AfroBasket 2007 Group Phase in Benguela] was the culminate of my playing career. It was a special moment in my career playing in front of my friends, family. It was great,” Costa recalled.
Angola beat Cameroon in Final 86-72.
“Even though we played on our backyard, it wasn’t a great game to our fans. We must give credit to Cameroon because they never gave up. We reached the final after beating other teams by margins, but Cameroon never allowed us to do that. Playing in Cidadela [Arena] in Luanda was a huge pressure to us as a team.”
“The fact that you had a guy with four of five championships sitting next you in the bench, explaining to you the incidences of the game is reinvigorating and inspiring.”
Asked to look back in his career and explain if he feels fulfilled, Costa said: “When you retire the worst feeling is to look back in time and feel that you should have done better and more than that. That’s why it’s important to make the most of the opportunity of playing in any competition like the World Cup Qualifiers,” Costa explained.