The highly anticipated Basketball Africa League (BAL) will kick off in four days in Kigali as African basketball giants go head to head in the rescheduled tournament. Times Sport brings you 10 things you should know about the NBA-affiliated pan-African league. 1. First tournament of its kind Basketball Africa League (BAL) is the first professional league of its kind to be run by NBA outside North America, and brings together 12 teams from 12 countries across Africa. 2. How did BAL come about? The Basketball Africa League is so far Africa’s premier men’s basketball league. The tournament is like a champion’s league model where champions from different countries qualify to participate in it. The ‘unique league’ was brought on board as a platform designed not only to grow the entire ecosystem of basketball but to also create an industry to use basketball as an economic growth engine. 3. Who are the organisers? The BAL league is a joint effort between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and FIBA. The tournament is the highest tier continental league of Africa, and the first-ever NBA-sponsored professional league held outside of North America. The FIBA Africa Basketball League was the biggest Basketball showpiece before the BAL was introduced. 4. How do teams qualify for the tournament? Six teams namely US Monastir (Tunisia), Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), Petro de Luanda (Angola), Zamalek (Egypt), AS Douanes (Senegal) and AS Salé (Morocco) gained automatic qualification to the BAL tournament, having been crowned champions in their respective leagues. The remaining clubs including home team Patriots, GNBC (Madagascar), AS Police (Mali), FAP (Cameroon), Ferroviário de Maputo (Mozambique) and GS Pétroliers (Algeria) secured their qualifications through qualifying games in both East and West Divisions. 5. Rwanda replaced Senegal as hosts The BAL’s inaugural season was initially scheduled to start on March 13, 2020 in Dakar, Senegal, but due to covid-19, the tournament was postponed. Organisers later moved the continental event to Kigali, changing the format from regular season to a group stage. Teams are now supposed to stay in a bubble camp from the beginning until the tournament closes. Meanwhile, Kigali will remain the tournament’s hosts for the next two seasons before organizers move the franchise to another African country. 6. How can Basketball fans watch the games? Basketball lovers from across the globe will be able to follow the BAL tournament on their screens live on ESPN Africa and Canal+, after both Pay TV stations reached an agreement with BAL to broadcast the entire tournament. 7. Will fans be allowed in the stadia to watch the game? To date, no decision has been made yet about whether the inaugural continental tier will be held behind closed doors. However there are reports that the organisers are looking at possibilities of allowing a limited number of fans to watch the games under strict guidelines. 8. Where can a person buy tickets for the games? This publication has established that the BAL is working on how people will access tickets in case fans attendance in the Arena is given a go-ahead. 9. Are there any celebrities that will grace the event? The New Times broke the news of American rapper J Cole’s arrival in Kigali on Sunday, May 9, where he joined the Patriots BBC’s camp ahead of the BAL. The club’s head coach Alan Major on Monday, May 10, confirmed that the rapper has agreed to play for the Rwandan Basketball champions during the entire tournament. Cole will be joined by Dallas Mavericks’ DJ Poizon Ivy, who was appointed as the BAL’s official music and sound coordinator in Kigali. Times Sport also understands that Nigerian singer Mr. Eazi is also in Kigali to attend the tournament. 10. What time will the first match start? The opening game of the BAL tournament tips off on Sunday, May 16. Patriots, playing on home soil, will be rubbing shoulders against one of the tournament’s favorites, Rivers Hoopers live from Kigali Arena, exactly at 2.00 pm GMT (4.00 pm Kigali Time).
