Basketball lovers on the continent are bracing for an exciting experience as the first edition of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) kicks-off on May 16 through 30, in Kigali, Rwanda. The two-week tournament is set to be Africa’s biggest basketball event on club level, and it will see 12 clubs from various African countries compete to establish the basketball champions of the continent. Some of the exciting features of the tournament include the fact that each club participating will be allowed a maximum of four foreign players, with at least eight members of the rooster being local players. Two out of four foreign players have to be from an African country. As the clubs are getting ready to compete, Times Sport brings you the teams to watch out for during the tournament. 6 of the 7 teams presented here gained automatic qualification into the final tournament, having been crowned champions in their respective leagues. These include Petro de Luanda club from Angola, Zamalek from Egypt, AS Sale from Morocco, Rivers Hoopers from Nigeria, AS Douanes from Senegal, and Union Sportive Monastir from Tunisia. Petro de Luanda (Angola) Atlético Petróleos de Luanda, commonly known as Petro de Luanda, is an Angolan basketball club based in Luanda – the capital city of the country. 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. The club ranks among the big achievers on the continent, having twice won the FIBA Africa Champions title. Union Sportive Monastir (Tunisia) Tunisian champions Union Monastir will represent Tunisia in the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Monastir is one of the big basketball clubs in Tunisia. In 2020, they won their fifth Tunisian championship, the second in a row. The club has been around for more than 60 years, having been established in 1959. It has a decorated history, which includes winning both the league and cup title in the 1999/2000 season. AS Sale (Morocco) 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. Zamalek (Egypt) Zamalek Sporting Club, commonly known as just Zamalek, is a basketball club based in the city of Cairo that plays in the Egypt basketball Super League. The team 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 (Senegal) AS Douanes was established in 1980 as the basketball section of the Senegalese customs organization in 1998, the team won its first national championship that year. In October 2019, Douane won the Senegalese championship after defeating DUC in the final and qualified automatically for the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). It is a team to watch, due to factors like the physicality of the West African players, and the experience that such teams have on the continent. Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria) Rivers Hoopers is a Nigerian basketball team based in Port Harcourt, Rivers. The team plays in the Basketball Africa League. Established in 2009 as Royal Hoopers, the team has been playing in the Nigerian Premier League since its inception. Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers have added three players who have played in the NBA and G-League. Guard Ben Uzoh, who has played in the NBA with the Nets, Cavaliers, and Raptors and currently plays for the Nigeria national basketball team, tops the list. He is joined by the American duo of Chris Daniels and Taren Sullivan, both of whom have extensive G-league experience. Uzoh, 33, was part of Nigeria’s 2015 Afrobasket winning squad in Tunisia. He was also a member of D’Tigers team which competed at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 2019 FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup in China. Patriots (Rwanda) Patriot’s basketball will represent Rwanda in the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Patriots sealed their ticket into the finals tournament of the maiden BAL edition last December after going nine games unbeaten in the two-round qualifiers. Patriots basketball club have edged closer to securing the signature of England-based center Prince Ibeh Chinenye ahead of the upcoming inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League – BAL. Besides the six automatically qualified teams for the NBA season, six others have played in qualifying tournaments organized by the African office of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). The remaining six teams that will join the national league winners are Algeria’s GSP, Cameroon’s FAP, Madagascar’s GNBC, Mali’s AS Police, Mozambique’s Ferroviário de Maputo, and Patriots BC from the host country Rwanda. The Basketball Africa League is a joint project between the world basketball governing body (Fiba) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). It is the first professional league run by the NBA outside North America. Jordan Brand will be the exclusive outfitter of the competition.
