The Basketball Africa League has announced the teams, conferences, and game schedules for this year’s tournament ahead of the kickoff date of March 11.
The BAL 2023 season, which is the third season of the competition, will see 12 club teams from 12 African countries battle it out for supremacy in the continent’s premier basketball league.
🚨💥 HERE WE GO! Be the first to know!
We are excited to announce the 12 qualified teams for the BAL Season 3!
📲 Register your interest in tickets at https://t.co/RrjIYgmHLU pic.twitter.com/FX5hYANVov— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) February 13, 2023
The twelve teams include defending champions US Monastir (Tunisia) and five other returning teams from the 2022 season: the Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), Clube Ferroviario da Beira (Mozambique), Seydou Legacy Athletique Club (Guinea), Petro de Luanda (Angola), and Rwanda Energy Group BBC (Rwanda).
Five teams will also be competing in the BAL for the first time, including the maiden BAL appearance for teams from Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda: Abidjan Basket Club (Côte d’Ivoire), Al Ahly (Egypt), City Oilers (Uganda), Kwara Falcons (Nigeria), and Stade Malien (Mali), while AS Douanes (Senegal) will be making a return to the tournament after participating in the inaugural season in 2021.
As per usual, the 12 teams will be divided into two conferences—the Sahara Conference and the Nile Conference—with each conference playing a 15-game group phase during which each team will face the other five teams in its conference once.
Get in the Game! 🔥
📆 11-21 March 2023 | Sahara Conference
📍🇸🇳🌟 Meet #theBAL teams set to compete in Dakar:
🇨🇮 Abidjan BC
🇸🇳 AS Douanes
🇳🇬 Kwara Falcons
🇷🇼 Rwanda EG
🇲🇱 Stade Malien
🇹🇳 US Monastir
📲 Register your interest in tickets at https://t.co/RrjIYgnfBs pic.twitter.com/rmmgoNuG79— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) February 13, 2023
The Sahara Conference’s group phase will take place at the Dakar Arena in Senegal, from March 11–21, and the Nile Conference’s group phase will take place at the Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo, Egypt, from April 26–May 6.
Get in the Game! 🔥
📆 26 April – 6 May 2023 | Nile Conference
📍🇪🇬🌟 Meet the BAL teams set to compete in Cairo:
🇪🇬 Al Ahly
🇿🇦 Cape Town Tigers
🇺🇬 City Oilers
🇲🇿 CFV Beira
🇦🇴 Petro de Luanda
🇬🇳Seydou Legacy AC
📲 More info at https://t.co/RrjIYgmHLU pic.twitter.com/Y8N4XtFt0i— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) February 13, 2023
The top four teams from each conference will qualify for the BAL Playoffs and Finals, which will feature a single-elimination tournament at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda, from May 21–27.
BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall was delighted at the hype being generated as the buildup to the competition continues.
He said: “There is incredible momentum leading up to the third BAL season, and each of the 12 teams have fought hard to earn their spot through intense competition.”
“We are very excited to see the on-court action tip off next month in Dakar and look forward to delivering world-class basketball and entertainment to our passionate fans across Africa and around the world,” Gallo Fall added.
The FIBA Africa and BAL Board President, Anibal Manave, also expressed the organisers’ excitement at the commencement of the competition and promised that the highest standard would be adopted.
“We are thrilled to rollout what promises to be another exceptional BAL season.”
“Judging from the quality of the teams that qualified through the Road to the BAL tournaments which ended in November last year, we are confident that fans and viewers will be treated to top-tier basketball that reflects the caliber of the talent we have on the continent,” he concluded.
The qualification process saw champions from the national leagues in Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia earn their spot in the upcoming season by winning their respective national leagues, while the other six teams from Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa, and Uganda secured their participation through the Road to the BAL qualifying tournaments organised by FIBA Africa across the continent from October to November 2022.
The BAL 2023 season opener will feature Senegal’s AS Douanes taking on competition debutants Abidjan Basket Club at the Dakar Arena on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. Nigerian time, while reigning champions US Monastir will begin their title defense on Sunday, March 12 at 6:30 p.m.
The BAL 2023 will run from March 11 to May 27, with the regular season played in both Dakar and Cairo, while the final is played at the BK Arena in Kigali.
WATCH ALL THE BAL 2023 MATCHES LIVE ON Afrosport TV
