Rwandan international basketball referee Didier Gaga has been named to officiate at the Sahara Conference regular season of the Basketball Africa League 2023 due from March 11-21 in Dakar, Senegal. The 40-year-old, who departed for Senegal on Tuesday night, is one of 15 referees selected to officiate at the African club basketball showpiece. It will be his second time officiating the BAL having done so during the tournament’s inaugural season in 2021 in Kigali. Just like the previous edition, the 2023 BAL campaign tips off in the Senegalese capital of Dakar and will conclude in Kigali, Rwanda, in May. The twelve teams, representing twelve African countries, were pooled in two major conferences - Sahara and Nile. The Sahara Conference group phase comprises Rwandan representatives REG, Tunisia’s US-Monastir, features Kwara Falcons (Nigeria), Abidjan Basketball Club (Côte d'Ivoire), conference hosts AS Douanes (Senegal) and Stade Malien (Mali). Meanwhile, Nile Conference campaign which runs from April 26 to May 6 at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo will bring together debutants Al Ahly of host nation Egypt, Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), BAL 2022 runners-up Petro de Luanda (Angola), City Oilers (Uganda), Ferroviário da Beira (Mozambique) and Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club (Guinea). Each Conference will play 15 games, and the clubs that finish in the top four places will qualify for the playoffs and finals in Kigali. There will be eight playoffs games which will determine the new kings of African club basketball on Saturday, May 27. While Gaga will be officiating at the Sahara Conference, another Rwandan referee Jean Sauveur Ruhamiriza will be handling matches at the Nile Conference regular season. It will be his third consecutive season officiating at the BAL since its inception in 2021.
