Get ready South Africa, the Basketball Africa League is coming to the Republic

The Basketball Africa League (BAL) has announced that the league’s expanded fourth season will tip off on Saturday, March 9, 2024, at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.

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The 2024 BAL season will feature the top 12 club teams from 12 African countries playing a record 48 games in Pretoria, Cairo (Egypt) Dakar (Senegal), and Kigali (Rwanda) over four months. It’ll be the first time ever that South Africa host BAL games and also the first time league games will be played across four different countries.

The 12 participating teams will be divided into three conferences of four teams each. Each conference will play a 12-game group phase during which each team will face the other three teams in its conference twice.

The top two teams from each BAL conference and the top two third-place teams from across the three conferences will travel to Kigali for four seeding games followed by an eight-game, single-elimination Playoffs and Finals between 24 May and 1 June.

The inaugural Kalahari Conference group phase will take place at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria between 9th and the 17th of March.The Nile Conference group phase will take place from 19 to 27 April 19 at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex inCairo.The Sahara Conference group phase will take place from Saturday, May 4 – Sunday, May 12 at the Dakar Arena in Dakar.

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EXCITING BUILDING FOR BAL TO DEBUT IN SA

“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.

“As we get ready for the 2024 BAL season, we remain committed to continuing to improve the quality of our on-court product, and this Combine in Rabat will once again showcase top-flight players, including from across the African Diaspora, who can contribute significantly to BAL teams and further establish the BAL as a world-class professional basketball league.”