Basketball Africa League set for historic tip-off in South Africa

By Chad Klate
16th February 2024

The Basketball Africa League will tip off in a historic occasion in Tshwane in less than a month, after it was announced that five new teams and three new countries will contest Season 4 this year.

The fourth BAL season is set to feature a record 48 games across Pretoria; Cairo, Egypt; Dakar, Senegal; and Kigali, Rwanda, in what will be a first for the league to be played across four different countries in one season, with South Africa getting its first-ever taste of the action.

The 12 teams have been divided into three conferences, namely Kalahari, Nile, and Sahara – each of which will consist of four teams.

Seven of the teams have competed in the BAL before, with Petro de Luanda (Angola) and US Monastir (Tunisia) having qualified for all four tournaments since its inception in 2021.

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

The Kalahari Conference will be contested by Cape Town Tigers (SA), Dynamo Basketball Club (Burundi), FUS Rabat Basketball (Morocco), and Petro de Luanda (Angola).

The Nile Conference will see reigning champions Al Ahly (Egypt), Al Ahly Ly (Libya), Bangui Sporting Club (Central African Republic), City Oilers (Uganda) face off.

While Armée Patriotique Rwandaise Basketball (APR; Rwanda), AS Douanes (Senegal), Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), and US Monastir (Tunisia) will do battle in the third and final Sahara Conference.

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

The inaugural Kalahari Conference group phase will take place from Saturday, 9 March – Sunday, 17 March at the SunBet Arena, followed by the Nile Conference group phase from Friday, 19 April – Saturday, 27 April at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo.

The Sahara Conference group phase will then take place from Saturday, 4 May – Sunday, 12 May at the Dakar Arena in Dakar.

The top two teams from each conference and two best third-placed teams from across the three conferences will then contest four seeding games followed by an eight-game, single-elimination Playoffs and Finals in Kigali from Friday, 24 May – Saturday, 1 June.

Cape Town Tigers (South Africa) will open their campaign against BAL newcomers Dynamo Basketball Club (Burundi) at 7:00 p.m on Saturday, 9 March, with the complete game schedule and ticket information available at BAL.NBA.com.