Featured image credit: Basketball Africa League
The SunBet Arena in Pretoria, Cairo’s Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex, the Dakar Arena, and the BK Arena in Kigali are all set to host matches in the upcoming Basketball Africa League (BAL) season from March 9 to June 1.
The fourth edition of the competition is scheduled to begin in the SunBet Arena in South Africa as 12 club teams play a record 48 games in the expanded tournament.
“We are thrilled to play the first BAL games in Pretoria, South Africa and to return to Dakar, Cairo and Kigali, where we’ve seen tremendous fan engagement over the past three seasons,” said BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall.
The teams will be divided into three conferences of four teams each and each conference will play a 12-game group phase.
The Kalahari Conference will take place first from March 9-17 before the Nile Conference in Cairo runs from April 19-27.
The Sahara Conference is then set to take place from May 4-12 in Senegal’s Dakar Arena.
The top two teams from each conference and the top two third-place teams from across the three conferences will then travel to Rwandan capital Kigali for four seeding games at the BK Arena, which was already confirmed as a host venue.
An eight-match, single-elimination playoffs and finals from May 24 to June 1 will then follow that to determine a champion.
BAL recently concluded its combine scouting event at the Ibn Yassine Omnisports Hall in Moroccan capital Rabat.
It was the first time that the three-day event has been held in Africa following previous editions in New York City and Paris and was led by former NBA player Robert Pack.
It featured 30 aspiring players from Africa, Europe, and the United States taking part in skill tests and 5-on-5 matches in front of team executives, coaches, and scouts.
Last year’s BAL season featured just two conferences with the Dakar Arena and Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex serving as hosts for preliminary round games before the BK Arena staged the final stages.
In June of last year, BAL agreed for the 10,000-seat venue in Kigali to host games in each season, including the playoffs and finals, in 2024, 2026, and 2028.
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