The 2023 season, which will begin on Saturday, March 11, according to the Basketball Africa League (BAL) schedule, has been made public. 12 African club teams will compete in 38 games throughout the course of the three-month competition in Senegal, Egypt, and Rwanda. The 12 teams competing in this year’s edition are split into two conferences, the Sahara Conference and the Nile Conference, similar to the 2022 BAL season.
The group stage for the Sahara Conference will be held in the Dakar Arena from March 11–21, and the group stage for the Nile Conference will be held at Cairo’s Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall from April 26–May 6. Only four teams from each conference that qualified will advance to the BAL Playoffs and Finals, which will take place at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda, from May 21 to May 27.
The BAL also took to it’s official Twitter handle to share the exciting news while the president of the league, Amadou Gallo Fall had this to say;
“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.”
Players competed in their national leagues for a chance to play in the 2023 BAL season in Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia. Through BAL qualifying competitions held in October and November of last year, teams from the Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Mozambique, South Africa, and Uganda were able to secure their spots.
Abidjan Basket Club (Ivory Coast), Al Ahly (Egypt), City Oilers (Uganda), Kwara Falcons (Nigeria), and Stade Malien are the five teams making their BAL debuts this year (Mali).
The 2022 BAL champions US Monastir of Tunisia will defend their title against Mali’s Stade Malien on Sunday, March 12 at 5:30 p.m. UTC. The opening game will begin on March 11 at 4:00 p.m. UTC with Senegal’s AS Douanes taking on Ivory Coast’s Abidjan Basket Club.
Photo Credit: @theBAL
