APR Basketball Club have been drawn into the Kalahari Conference for the regular season of the 2026 Basketball Africa League (BAL), where they will face a competitive field that includes Al Ahly Ly (Libya), Johannesburg Giants (South Africa), Dar City (Tanzania), Nairobi City Thunder (Kenya) and Petro de Luanda (Angola). The Kalahari Conference group phase will take place at SunBet Arena from March 27 to April 5. APR finished third in the 2025 edition of the BAL, while Petro de Luanda reached the final, eventually losing to Al Ahli Tripoli. ALSO READ: BAL finals return to Kigali APR will open their campaign against Al Ahly Ly on March 27 at 4:00 p.m. CAT. Later that day, hosts Johannesburg Giants will face Dar City at 7:00 p.m. CAT. The sixth season of BAL will feature 12 clubs from 12 African countries, competing in a total of 42 games across two conferences — Kalahari and Sahara — and the playoffs and finals. The Sahara Conference is scheduled for April 24 to May 3 at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat, Morocco. That group will debutants JCA Kings (Côte d’Ivoire), Maktown Flyers (Nigeria), Ville de Dakar (Senegal) and Club Africain (Tunisia), BAL 2023 Champions Al Ahly (Egypt) and FUS de Rabat of Morocco. The top eight teams from both conferences will advance to the playoffs and finals, set to be held at BK Arena in Kigali from May 22 to 31. “Welcoming five new teams into the BAL family is a powerful sign of the league’s continued growth, the impact it is having on the African basketball ecosystem, and the incredible talent developing across the continent,” said BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall. “We look forward to engaging our passionate fans in South Africa, Morocco, Rwanda and those watching across Africa and around the world as we continue to establish the BAL as the continent’s preeminent sport and entertainment property.” This season, national league champions from seven countries — Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia — qualified automatically for the BAL. The remaining five teams secured their spots through the Road to BAL qualifying tournaments organised by FIBA Africa between October and December 2025. Each conference will play a 15-game group phase, with every team facing the other five teams in its conference once.
