CHIRIQUÍ, Panama, September 15, 2025.- With the presence of seven well-prepared squads and a new competition format, the battle for the title at the VII AFECAVOL Central American Men’s U23 Championship is shaping up to be a very exciting one as the event kicks off this September 16.
The teams from Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama have declared themselves ready for action after completing all documentation during the preliminary interviews held before the start of the matches.
Guatemala, Belize, and Panama are in Pool A, while Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras will battle in Pool B. After the group stage, the top finishers in each pool will advance to cross-over semifinals, while the remaining teams will compete for final ranking positions.
Belize’s head coach, Albert Humus, stated: “This event is very important for Belize, our goal is to win a medal and thereby improve our level in this category. We definitely ended up in the ‘group of death.”
Guatemala’s assistant coach, Luis Fernando Castañeda, said: “Our goal is always to try to perform well and fight for the championships in every competition. Our athletes have been competing internationally, which is very helpful because it allows us to arrive with plenty of match experience. We know that all the teams in this event are strong, and both groups that were formed are challenging.”
Honduras’ head coach, Miguel Pagoaga, added: “We trained for eight months, so our assessment of the team is very positive. We came to this competition with a young team, a U21 category group, but one that has prepared very well. We believe our pool is quite manageable with chances to advance, but it will all depend on the players’ effort on the court.”
El Salvador’s head coach, Andrea Genova, mentioned: “For this competition, our expectation is to learn a lot from the tournament because we will be presenting a very young and renewed team. We were fortunate to end up in a group of four; we believe we can take advantage of the cross-over matches, but our goal is to deliver a good performance.”
Regarding the goals of the host team, Panama’s head coach, Horacio Angulo, stated: “As hosts, we seek to prepare well to try to reach the podium. We have a structured team with players from two categories who have done a good job in previous tournaments, so it is a group that knows each other well and includes players of good caliber. We will go game by game with this new format, and we hope things go well for us.”
Nicaragua’s head coach, Jorge Mena, explained: “Our expectation, as in every championship, is to aim for a medal. In our pool we face Costa Rica, Honduras, and El Salvador. We have a chance to advance but cannot underestimate our opponents. Our goal is to reach the next round and fight in the semifinals to reach the top.”
Regarding Costa Rica’s participation, head coach César Salas stated: “Our main goal is to fight for the title. We want to work responsibly and come out strong with this group of players we brought. In our group, all the teams are tough, they are teams that work well. We will not underestimate any of them, we will play hard in each match and try to qualify for the next stage convincingly.”
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