Five new teams, three new countries to contest Basketball Africa League

The Basketball Africa League (BAL) announced on Thursday five new teams and three new countries are among the 12 club teams from 12 African countries that will compete in the 2024 BAL season, which will tip off on March 9 at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria.

The fourth BAL season will feature a record 48 games, with Cairo (Egypt), Dakar (Senegal) and Kigali (Rwanda) hosting their first BAL games, marking the first time the league will play games in four different countries.

The 12 teams have been divided into three conferences of four teams each.

Seven of the teams have competed in the BAL before, two of which — Petro de Luanda (Angola) and US Monastir (Tunisia) — will be competing for a record fourth season.

Five teams are making their BAL debut, including the first BAL teams from Burundi, Central African Republic and Libya.

Each conference will play a 12-game group phase, during which each team will face the other three teams in its conference twice. 

An innovation this season is the home team in each market will play every game day, including on weekends. 

The inaugural Kalahari Conference group phase will take place from March 9 to 17 at SunBet Arena. 

Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), Al Ahly (Egypt), Armée Patriotique Rwandaise Basketball (Rwanda) and Dynamo Basketball Club (Burundi) will contest this conference.

The Nile Conference group phase is from April 19 to 27 at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo. 

The Sahara Conference phase plays out at Dakar Arena in Dakar from May 4 to 12.

The top two teams from each conference and the top two third-place teams from across the three conferences will travel to BK Arena in Kigali for four seeding games followed by eight-game single elimination playoffs and finals from May 24 to June 1.

In the season opener, first-time BAL participant FUS Rabat Basketball (Morocco) will face Petro de Luanda at 4pm (CAT).

In the second game, home team Cape Town Tigers (SA) will take on first-time BAL participant Dynamo Basketball Club (Burundi) at 7pm (CAT). 

On the opening day of the Nile Conference, home team Al Ahly (Egypt) will begin its title defence against two-time BAL participant City Oilers (Uganda) at 5pm (GMT).

The complete game schedule is available at BAL.NBA.com.

Tickets for the Kalahari Conference group phase in Pretoria are on sale at BAL.NBA.com and ticketmaster.co.za (Pretoria).

Single-game tickets start at R75 and there are package deals available by e-mailing BalTickets@thebal.com.

Champions from the national leagues in Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia earned their participation in the 2024 BAL season by winning their respective national leagues. 

The remaining six teams from Burundi, Central African Republic, Libya, Morocco, South Africa and Uganda secured their participation through the Road to the BAL qualifying tournaments conducted by FIBA Africa across the continent from October to November 2023.

Basketball Africa League conferences:

• Kalahari: Cape Town Tigers (SA), Dynamo Basketball Club (Burundi)*, FUS Rabat Basketball (Morocco)*, Petro de Luanda (Angola);
• Nile: Al Ahly (Egypt), Al Ahly Ly (Libya)*, Bangui Sporting Club (Central African Republic)*, City Oilers (Uganda); and
• Sahara: Armée Patriotique Rwandaise Basketball (APR, Rwanda)*, AS Douanes (Senegal), Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), US Monastir (Tunisia).

* Indicates first-time BAL participants. — Basketball Africa League