Basketball Africa League


The Basketball Africa League is Africa's premier men's basketball league scheduled to begin play in March, 2020. The league consists of twelve teams, each qualified through their domestic competition, to similar to the formats of the UEFA Champions League and Africa Basketball League. The league is a joint effort between the National Basketball Association and FIBA with sponsorship from Nike, Jordan Brand and Pepsi.
Its inaugural season started with qualifying rounds in October 2019 and the regular season in March 2020. The competition replaces FIBA's Africa Basketball League as the continent's top-tier league.
BAL president, Amadou Gallo Fall, announced at the 2020 NBA All-Star Game Africa Luncheon in Chicago, that the season will tip off on March 13. At the event, Nike and Jordan unveiled the official jerseys for the twelve teams. The BAL also launched the league's official website and social media accounts.

History

On February 16, 2019 the National Basketball Association and FIBA announced plans to establish a continental professional basketball league. During a press conference at the 2019 NBA All-Star weekend NBA commissioner Adam Silver elaborated on plans to establish the league. Stating the league will feature 12 teams after qualification tournaments late in 2019. Countries announced that could possibly host a team include; Angola, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia. Silver also hinted at the involvement of former U.S. president Barack Obama in an unspecified role. In May 2019, Amadou Gallo Fall was assigned the first president of the BAL by the NBA. In September 2019, BAL announced the venues and cities for the inaugural season, which included a Final Four played in the Kigali Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.
On 15 October 2019, the qualifying tournaments for the inaugural season began, with teams from 32 African countries participating. On 3 March 2020, the BAL announced it was postponing its season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Qualification

Comparable to the UEFA Champions League in association football, the competition has qualifying rounds to determine which teams play in each season. National federations from African countries will each be given the opportunity to send one representing club, usually the national champions. In the BAL Qualifying Tournaments, teams play each other in groups for six remaining spots in the BAL regular season.
Six teams from six countries qualify directly for the regular season to make a total of twelve teams.

Format

In its inaugural season, the BAL will consist of twelve teams. In the regular season, the twelve teams are divided in two conference in which they play five games each. The top three teams from each conference advance to the Super 6. In the Super 6, all teams play in a round-robin competition to determine the four teams that qualify for the final four. The final four is a single-elimination tournament which decides the BAL champion.

Player rules

Each club participating in the BAL regular season is restricted to having four foreign players only, which means it has to have at least 8 local players on its roster. Two out of four foreign players have to be from an African country as well.

Teams

These are the 12 teams for the 2020 BAL season:
TeamCity, CountryNational leagueNational titlesFoundedBAL appearance
AS DouanesDakar, SenegalNationale 1
9
1980
Debut
AS PoliceBamako, MaliMalian Division I
1
Debut
AS SaléSalé, MoroccoDivision Excellence
7
1928
Debut
FAPYaoundé, CameroonElite Messieurs
0
Debut
Ferroviário de MaputoMaputo, MozambiqueMozambican Division I
8
Debut
GNBCVakinankaratra, MadagascarMalagasy N1A
2
Debut
GS PétroliersAlgiers, AlgeriaAlgerian Basketball Championship
20
1921
Debut
PatriotsKigali, RwandaNational Basketball League
4
2014
Debut
Petro de LuandaLuanda, AngolaAngolan Basketball League
13
1980
Debut
Rivers HoopersPort Harcourt, NigeriaNigerian Premier League
3
2009
Debut
US MonastirMonastir, TunisiaChampionnat National A
4
1923
Debut
ZamalekGiza, EgyptSuper League
14
1911
Debut