The fourth season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) will begin in March in Pretoria, South Africa’s SunBet Arena.
The top 12 club teams from 12 African nations will compete in a record 48 games over four months in Pretoria, Cairo, Egypt, Dakar, Senegal, and Kigali, Rwanda, during the 2024 BAL season.
This will be the first time the league plays games in four separate nations and the first BAL games in South Africa.
There will be 12 teams in the BAL in 2024, split into three conferences of four teams each. There will be a 12-game group phase in which each conference’s teams will play each other twice against each other.
The SunBet Arena will host the first-ever Kalahari Conference group phase on Saturday, March 9 through Sunday, March 17. The Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo will host the Nile Conference group phase on Friday, April 19, and Saturday, April 27. At the Dakar Arena in Dakar, the group phase of the Sahara Conference will run from Saturday, May 4, to Sunday, May 12.
The top two teams from each conference as well as the two best third-place teams from the three conferences will go to Kigali for four seeding games. From Friday, May 24 to Saturday, June 1, there will be an eight-game, single-elimination playoff and championship series.
INCLUDE IN A RABAT
After prior editions in New York City and Paris, the BAL is holding its first Combine in Africa from Friday, January 5 through Sunday, January 7. The Combine will take place in Rabat, Morocco.
In front of team executives, coaches, and scouts, thirty aspiring players from Africa, Europe, the US, and other countries will participate in three days of positional skill development, anthropometric and athletic testing, and 5-on-5 games at the Ibn Yassine Omnisports Hall.
Robert Pack, a former NBA player, will direct the Combine Camp.
BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall stated, “We are excited to play the first BAL games in Pretoria, South Africa, and to return to Dakar, Cairo, and Kigali, where we’ve witnessed remarkable fan participation over the past three seasons.
“We are committed to keeping up the quality of our on-court product as we prepare for the 2024 BAL season. This Combine in Rabat will once again feature elite players, including those from throughout the African Diaspora, who can make significant contributions to BAL teams and further establish the BAL as a world-class professional basketball league.”
The BAL launched a U23 “BAL4HER” identification camp on January 5th as part of the Combine. This camp will bring together 20 female players and four female coaches from all around Morocco to take part in on-court basketball development programmes.
The camp is a part of an initiative to find 20 of the best female athletes in Africa, who will take part in a five-day camp in Kigali in 2024, coinciding with the BAL playoffs and championship.
For 200 nearby coaches, the league will also hold a coaching clinic. Anibal Manave, the president of FIBA Africa and the BAL Board, and Ian Mahinmi, the 2011 NBA champion and BAL Ambassador, will attend the Combine and engage with all of the competitors this autumn.
Pack played for the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Washington Bullets, New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, and New Orleans Hornets throughout the course of his 13-year NBA career. He formerly worked as an assistant coach for the LA Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, New Orleans Pelicans, and Washington Wizards in the NBA and as head coach of Rwanda Energy Group (REG) in the BAL.
Wilson, Jordan Brand, NIKE, Rwanda Development Board, and BAL Foundational Partners will all be back. Among the elite marketing partners of the league are Afreximbank, Hennessy, and RwandAir.
The upcoming months will see the announcement of the 2024 BAL season, including the 12 BAL teams, conferences, schedule of games, and other details.
At BAL.NBA.com, fans can express interest in purchasing tickets for games in each of the four areas.
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