The Brazilian national basketball team will honor the late Oscar Schmidt by wearing a special commemorative shirt patch during a World Cup qualifier in Brasília.
The tribute will take place on Thursday, August 27, when Brazil faces the Dominican Republic at the Arena Nilson Nelson. The match marks the national team's first fixture on home soil since the legendary player died in April.
According to the Brazilian Basketball Confederation, known as the CBB, the match in the capital city will be a celebration of Schmidt's life and career. The team shirt will feature a patch displaying the face of the former player alongside the phrase "Oscar Eterno", which translates to Forever Oscar.
Felipe Schmidt, the son of the basketball icon, will attend the ceremony in Brasília. He said playing for the Brazilian national team was one of the greatest achievements of his father's life, highlighting how much the national shirt meant to him. He added that the family was delighted to see his story continue to be written on the team shirt.
A legendary basketball career
Schmidt, who was widely known by the nickname "Mão Santa", or Holy Hand, scored 49,737 points throughout his career. He remains the all-time leading scorer for the Brazilian national team and held the record as the highest scorer in world basketball history for several decades.
He is also the highest scorer in the history of the Olympic Games. During the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Schmidt set the single-game Olympic scoring record by putting up 55 points against Spain. He also holds the record for the highest scoring average in a single Olympic tournament, averaging 42.3 points per game.
Schmidt accounts for seven of the ten highest individual scoring games in Olympic history. In addition to his Olympic achievements, he scored 52 points against Australia at the 1990 World Championship. His career has been recognized globally with inductions into the FIBA Hall of Fame, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the Time Brasil Hall of Fame.
World Cup qualification campaign
The fixture in Brasília forms part of the second round of Americas qualification for the 2027 FIBA World Cup.
Brazil advanced to the second stage after finishing top of Group C in the first round with a perfect record. During that stage, the team secured victories in all of their matches against Chile, Venezuela, and Colombia.
In the second phase, Brazil has been placed into Group E alongside the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and the United States as the team bids to secure qualification for the upcoming World Cup tournament.
