After a long wait, the first edition of Basketball Africa League (BAL) tournament kicks off today, May 16 at the Kigali Arena and will run through May 30.
The tournament’s opening game will be between local side Patriots and Nigerian giants Rivers Hoopers at 4pm Rwandan time.
Patriots will be looking to raise the country's flag high in the showpiece that will be watched in various parts of the continent after organisers confirmed that Canal+ and ESPN will air all the games.
Going into the tournament, the local team has reinforced its ranks by adding new players - both local and international, and hiring a new coach - Alan Major, an experienced tactician from the United States of America.
However, various teams in the tournament have also reinforced themselves for the challenge.
Times Sport previews all the 12 teams that will be participating in the tournament.
Group A
Patriots (Rwanda), Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), US Monastir (Tunisia), and GNBC (Madagascar).
Rivers Hoopers:
The Nigerian giants can be considered the strongest in this group.
Established in 2009 as Royal Hoopers, the team has been playing in the Nigerian Premier League since its inception.
The team has added to their ranks Ugandan Robinson Opong, an experienced player that has featured in Canada on club level, as well as representing the national team of his country.
Patriots:
Patriots have strengthened their side with additions of US rapper J. Cole, along with Brandon Costner (USA), Kenyan Bush Wamutoka and UK-based Prince Ibeh Chinenye.
Even though Patriots is drawn in a tricky pool on the other hand, they can still capitalize one the home advantage to qualify from this pool, which means the Patriots have to beat two games which seem to be the barricade to qualification.
US Monastir:
This is a team to watch as well in Group A.
Monastir is one of the big basketball clubs in Tunisia. In 2020, they won their fifth Tunisian championship, the second in a row.
GNBC:
They took Africa by a storm in December 2019 when they snatched their ticket to the inaugural BAL season after finishing second in the Eastern Africa qualifiers, only behind Rwanda’s Patriots.
"We are determined to do our very best to upset our opponents. We want to go as far as possible, and eventually win the tournament. If we do not succeed, at least, we will grab much experience during our stay in Kigali," says their coach Navalona.
Group B
Petro de Luanda (Angola), AS Sale (Morocco), AS Police (Mali), FAP (Cameroon).
Petro de Luanda:
Atlético Petróleos de Luanda, commonly known as Petro de Luanda, is an Angolan basketball club based in Luanda.
It competes at the local level, at the Luanda Provincial Basketball Championship and at the Angola National Basketball Championship.
Petro de Luanda led the league with 49 points five points ahead of close rivals Primeiro D’Agosto and Interclube de Luanda.
AS Sale:
Association Sportive de Sale (AS Sale) competes in the Division Excellence (top flight) in Morocco.
The club is a seven-time national champion, and have also won the FIBA African Champions Cup in 2017.
Being champions of Morocco in the 2020 season, AS Sale will be hoping to add some trophies to their decorated past, when the inaugural Basketball Africa League kicks off.
In 2019, the team signed Said El Bouzidi, a coach who has since led them to the FIBA Africa Champions Cup glory in 2017, and under such an experienced tactician, the team may go places in the upcoming tournament.
AS Police:
AS Police is a basketball club based in Bamako, Mali. The team plays in the Basketball Africa League and in the Ligue 1. The roster mainly consists of civilians from N'Tomikorobougou, a neighborhood in Bamako, and police officers.
In 2019, Police won its second Malian national championship. Under head coach Moussa Sogoré, the team went unbeaten (9–0) on its way to its maiden title. By winning this title, Police earned the right to play in the 2020 BAL qualifiers.
FAP:
Forces Armées et Police Basketball, better known as FAP or FAP Yaoundé, is a basketball team based in Yaoundé, Cameroon. It is the basketball team of the Cameroonian armed forces and police. The team plays in the Basketball Africa League and the Elite Messieurs.
In 2020, FAP won its first silverware after winning the Elite Messieurs title. It went unbeaten in the Final Four tournament with a 6–0 record Ahead of the inaugural BAL season in May 2021, FAP signed Lazaare Adingono as head coach.
Group C
Zamalek (Egypt), AS Douanes (Senegal), GS Petroliers (Algeria), Ferroviário de Maputo (Mozambique).
Zamalek is one of the top basketball teams in Egypt with fifteen national championships.
They are expected to be coached by Tarek Slim, who replaced Essam abd El Hamid at the helm of the basketball club in 2019.
25-year-old Anas Osama is one of the players to watch in this team. He has represented Egypt superbly both at club and national level.
AS Douanes: Association Sportive des Douanes, commonly known as AS Douanes, is a Senegalese basketball club from Dakar.
In October 2019, Douane won the Senegalese championship after defeating DUC in the final. By winning, Douanes qualified directly for the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL).
Ferroviário de Maputo: Clube Ferroviário de Maputo is a basketball club based in Maputo, Mozambique. The team competes in the Basketball Africa League and the Mozambican League. In the Mozambican League, Maputo has won nine national titles.
The club won its first national championship which was followed by three more in the following years. On 22 December 2019, Maputo qualified for the first season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL).
GS Petroliers: Groupement Sportif des Pétroliers, also known as GSP, is the basketball team of the homonymous multi-sport club. The club is based in Algiers, Algeria.
On 30 November 2019, GSP qualified for the 2020 Basketball Africa League (BAL) by winning the West Division in the qualifying tournament.
Group stage schedule
May 16 – Rivers Hoopers v Patriots (4pm)
May 17 – GSP v AS Douanes (2pm), Maputo v Zamalek (5:30pm), GNBC v US Monastir (9pm)
May 18 – AS Police v Petro de Luanda (5:30pm), FAP v AS Sale (9pm)
May 19 – Patriots v GNBC (2pm), AS Douanes v Maputo (5:30pm), GSP v Zamalek (9pm)
May 20 – Petro de Luanda v FAP (2pm), Rivers Hoopers v US Monastir (5:30pm), AS Police v AS Sale (9pm)
May 22 – Maputo v GSP (2pm), Zamalek v AS Douanes (5:30pm), US Monastir v Patriots (9pm)
May 23 – GNBC v Rivers Hoopers (2pm), FAP v AS Police (5:30pm), AS Salé v Petro de Luanda (9pm).