Five new teams, three new countries confirmed for 2024 Basketball Africa League

...season to tip off on March 9 in South Africa

The Basketball Africa League (BAL) has confirmed that five new teams and three new countries are among the 12 club teams from 12 African countries that will compete in the 2024 BAL season, which will tip off on Saturday, March 9 in Pretoria, South Africa. The fourth season of BAL will feature a record 48 games in Pretoria, Cairo, Egypt, Dakar, Senegal, and Kigali, Rwanda, marking the league's first games in South Africa as well as in four other nations.

The 12 teams were divided into three conferences, each with four teams.  Seven of the teams have previously competed in the BAL, with two of them, Petro de Luanda (Angola) and US Monastir (Tunisia), returning for a record fourth season.  Five teams will make their BAL debuts, including the first teams from Burundi, the Central African Republic, and Libya.

Each conference will play a 12-game group phase during which each team will face the other three teams in its conference twice.  New this season, the home team in each market will play on every gameday, including on the weekends.  The inaugural Kalahari Conference group phase will take place from Saturday, March 9 – Sunday, March 17 at the SunBet Arena.  The Nile Conference group phase will take place from Friday, April 19 – Saturday, April 27 at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo.  

The Sahara Conference group phase will take place from Saturday, May 4 – Sunday, May 12 at the Dakar Arena in Dakar.  The top two teams from each conference and the top two third-place teams from across the three conferences will travel to BK Arena in Kigali for four seeding games followed by an eight-game, single-elimination Playoffs and Finals from Friday, May 24 – Saturday, June 1.  

In the season opener, first-time BAL participant FUS Rabat Basketball (Morocco) will face Petro de Luanda at 4:00 p.m. CAT.  In the second game, home team Cape Town Tigers (South Africa) will take on first-time BAL participant Dynamo Basketball Club (Burundi) at 7:00 p.m. CAT.  On the opening day of the Nile Conference, home team Al Ahly (Egypt) will begin its title defense against two-time BAL participant City Oilers (Uganda) at 5:00 p.m. GMT.  The complete game schedule is available at BAL.NBA.com.

Tickets for the Kalahari Conference group phase in Pretoria and the Sahara Conference group phase in Dakar are on sale now at BAL.NBA.com, Ticketmaster.co.za (Pretoria) and Teewtickets.com (Dakar).  Single game tickets start at 75 ZAR for the Kalahari Conference group phase and 2,500 XOF for the Sahara Conference group phase.  Fans can save up to 35% off single game ticket prices for group packages by emailing BalTickets@thebal.com, and up to 20% off single game ticket prices for all games during the Sahara Conference group phase by selecting two, four or all games.  Fans who purchase tickets will also have free access to BAL Fan Zones at the arena in each market.  Ticket sales information for the Nile Conference group phase in Cairo and the Playoffs and Finals Kigali will be announced at a later date. 

Champions from the national leagues in Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia earned their participation in the 2024 BAL season by winning their respective national leagues.  The remaining six teams, which come from Burundi, Central African Republic, Libya, Morocco, South Africa and Uganda, secured their participation through the Road to the BAL qualifying tournaments conducted by FIBA Africa across the continent from October to November 2023.

Rwanda Development Board, Nike, Jordan Brand, and Wilson will all return as BAL Foundational Partners.  The league's world-class marketing partners include Afreximbank, Hennessy, and RwandAir.