The Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA) has revealed the clubs across Africa which will participate in the 2022 Road to BAL and Elite 16 Qualifying Tournament for Season 3 of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) next year.
This year's road to BAL will take place across four African cities. It will get underway on October 11 and it will conclude on October 30.
Twenty teams will be divided into four groups of five teams each, which will be split into East and West Divisions.
The teams that finish in the first two places in Groups A, B, C and D will qualify for the Elite 16 Round, where they will join the six teams that qualified for the 2022 BAL season through the Road to BAL qualifier.
The remaining teams to complete the Elite 16 Round line-up will be announced by FIBA Africa at a later date.
The top six-placed teams from the Elite 16 will then qualify for the 2023 BAL Season where they will join the champions from Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia.
FIBA Africa President Anibal Manave and President of the BAL Board said: "Teams that have competed in the Road to BAL have shown tremendous quality in the BAL regular season. In some instances, Road to BAL teams have beaten and been able to compete against higher-ranked teams. This is a sign that Road to BAL is an important event and it is encouraging to other teams vying to compete in the BAL. We are excited about the Road to BAL because it has positively impacted national championships across Africa."
The schedule and host cities of the 2022 Road to BAL and the Elite 16 are as follows:
Group A (Niamey, (NIGER) Oct 18-23): Elan Coton BBC (Benin Republic), Abidjan Basketball Club (Cote d'Ivoire), Reformers BBC (Ghana), A.S Nigelec (Niger). Cape Verde's representative is to be determined.
Group B (Yaounde, (CAMEROON) Oct 11-16): Nueva Era Basket Club (Equatorial Guinea), Bangui Sport Club (Central African Republic), Espoir Basket Club (Gabon), Tempo Basket (Chad). DR Congo's representative is to be determined.
Group C (Kampala, (UGANDA) Oct 25-30): Urunani BBC (Burundi), Hawassa City BBC (Ethiopia), City Oilers (Uganda), Army Basket Club (Tanzania), Matero Magic (Zambia).
Group D (Antananarivo, (MADAGASCAR) Oct 18-23): Djabal Basket (Comoros Islands), COSPN (Madagascar), Kenya Ports Authority (Kenya), Foxes Basketball Club (Zimbabwe), Dekkedda Club are yet confirming participation.
ELITE 16 ROUND
Group E (Abidjan, (COTE D'IVOIRE) November 15-20): AS Sale (Morocco), FAP (Cameroon), SLAC (Guinea - *TBD). The top two teams from Groups A and B will be drawn in Group E.
Group F (Cape Town, (SOUTH AFRICA) November 22-27): Ferroviario da Beira (Mozambique), Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), Cobra Sports (TBD). The top two teams from Groups C and D will be drawn in Group F.