The Basketball Africa League (BAL) has announced that the league’s expanded fourth season will tip off on Saturday, March 9, at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa. This is the first time South Africa will be hosting the continental showpiece, and the first time the league will be hosted in four different countries. ALSO READ: BAL president: Rwanda poised to become an international sports hub A statement from the BAL indicates that this year’s season will, as usual, feature 12 top clubs from 12 African countries, but this time, they will play a record 48 games in Pretoria, Cairo, Dakar, and Kigali over four months. According to the breakdown, the 12 teams will be divided into three conferences comprising four teams each. Every conference will have a 12-game group phase during which each team will face the other three teams in its conference twice. The inaugural Kalahari Conference group phase will start on Saturday, March 9, and run through March 17 at the SunBet Arena. The Nile Conference group phase will take place from Friday, April 19 through 27 at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo. The Sahara Conference group phase will get underway on Saturday, May 4, and end on 12, at the Dakar Arena in Dakar. The top two teams from each conference and the top two third-placed teams from across the three conferences will travel to Kigali for four seeding games followed by an eight-game, single-elimination playoffs and finals from May 24, through June 1. In a related development, the BAL announced that the league will host a Combine in Rabat, Morocco from Friday, January 5 through 7. ALSO READ: Basketball Africa League extended to South Africa Previous editions of the scouting event have been hosted in New York City and Paris. The program is expected to feature 30 aspiring players from Africa, Europe, the U.S. and around the world taking part in athletic testing, positional skill development, and 5-on-5 games in front of team executives, coaches and scouts. Former NBA player Robert Pack will serve as the Combine Camp Director. ALSO READ: Amadou Gallo Fall on preps for BAL season four “We are thrilled to play the first BAL games in Pretoria, South Africa and to return to Dakar, Cairo and Kigali, where we’ve seen tremendous fan engagement over the past three seasons,” said BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall. “As we get ready for the 2024 BAL season, we remain committed to continuing to improve the quality of our on-court product, and this Combine in Rabat will once again showcase top-flight players, including from across the African Diaspora, who can contribute significantly to BAL teams and further establish the BAL as a world-class professional basketball league.” Kigali remains the home of the BAL playoffs, following the past three editions that have been hosted in the capital’s BK Arena.
