BAL Season 5 Play-offs and Finals set for Tshwane

The South African capital debuted in this year’s BAL by hosting the Kalahari Conference, which attracted vast crowds throughout the two-week showpiece. 

With the upcoming season set to tip off on 5 April 2025 in Rabat, Morocco, Fall explained the decision to stage the play-offs and finals in South Africa.

"Obviously last year we had a very positive experience hosting our Kalahari Conference at the SunBet Arena – the energy from the crowd, with basketball a popular sport in South Africa," said Fall.

"And we've spent many years in the country with our headquarters there, so we know the landscape and how passionate young people are about the game, so it wasn't a hard decision.

"Obviously we had the opportunity this year to take the finals to another country, as part of our goal to continue to expand our footprint and bring basketball to as many friends as possible across the continent, so we had no doubt we'd have some exciting finals in SA in 2025."

Fall also confirmed the line-up of teams that have qualified automatically and those that will go through qualifiers, including a wildcard entry for a South African team.

"In terms of who qualified automatically for the upcoming BAL season, as you know, we have the champions from Egypt, Angola, Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, that of course are automatically in the League," he added.

"And then obviously we still have five more slots through the Road to BAL, that we are organising and it is going to deliver those slots.

"Obviously, the team from South Africa competing in the Road to BAL, but, as the host country, they will be in the first round and we will see where they finish, but there are wildcard positions at the end of the competition, which FIBA will decide."

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