Afiz Olaniyan & Krumesh Patel named GB 3×3 Head Coaches

Afiz Olaniyan and Krumesh Patel have been appointed Great Britain’s Senior 3×3 Men’s and Women’s Head Coaches, respectively, as the BBF prepares for a renewed focus on 3×3.

Following on from British Basketball receiving a funding boost from UK Sport in December to support the building of the 3×3 programme, the two appointees join former GB Senior international Hannah Shaw, who is the newly recruited 3×3 Programme Manager, while two new clubs – Manchester 3×3 and London 3×3 have been formed or supported by the Federation.

The BBF states this season “will see advancement in key areas including staffing, training camps and competitions, the development of the ‘GB Way’ and the provision of individual player support through tailored coaching and sport science to maximise performance”.

Olaniyan and Patel will meet with their selected players later this month as they look ahead to an exciting summer which will see the men competing for the first time in the World Cup qualifiers after they finished in the top eight of the FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup in Austria last year, while the women will compete in the FIBA Women’s Series, creating another first for the programme.

Both the men and women will be in action in the FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup qualifiers in Slovakia in June, targeting places in the finals which take place in Denmark in September.

Having won the EuroCup as Assistant Coach of the Women’s London Lions last year, Patel has already experienced international success. Athinaikos WBC, the Greek team of which Patel is the Lead Assistant Coach, have qualified for European competition for 2026 and currently sit near the top of their competitive league.

Patel is familiar with the GB set up having coached the U18 Women’s team in 5v5 and last season led the coaching of the Women’s 3×3 team.

Olaniyan was Head Coach of the 3×3 U23 Men in 2024 as well as Assistant Coach for the Senior Men’s side who reached the quarter finals of the FIBA 3×3 Europe Cup. He was also Head Coach of the London Warriors who are Britain’s most internationally successful semi-professional 3×3 team to date.

“The recruitment of high-quality personnel into key positions, a structured season of camps and competitions and the creation of a wider support structure for players are big developments in the activation of our plans,” Fiona Pimblett said.

“The UK Sport funding has provided us with the resource needed to take these steps. We have a long-term strategic vision for 3×3 which leads towards Olympic ambitions and this season will provide us with key learnings for the players and performance staff as we expose our teams to new opportunities and levels of competition.”

Key 2025 Dates for GB 3×3

24-25th May
World Cup Qualifiers in Baku, Azerbaijan (Senior Men, qualification through the 2024 FIBA Europe Cup)

7-8th June
Europe Cup Qualifiers in Bratislava, Slovakia (Senior Men and Women)

U23 Nations League (U23 Men and Women)
Stop 1,2,3 – 11-13th July in Bucharest, Romania
Stop 4,5,6 – 25-27th July in Szolnok, Hungary

18th-27th July
European Youth Olympic Festival, Skopje North Macedonia (U18 Women)

Various dates between May-September
FIBA Women’s Series

Various dates between April-November
FIBA Men’s Professional Circuit

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