The Basketball Africa League (BAL) has announced that its fourth season is set to begin on Saturday, March 9, 2024, at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa. The 2024 BAL season will feature 12 club teams from 12 African countries competing in a record 48 games across four months. The league will play games in Pretoria, Cairo, Dakar, and Kigali, marking the first time it will play in South Africa and across four different countries. Basketball fans can register their interest in tickets to games in all four locations at BAL.NBA.com.
During the 2024 BAL season, the 12 teams will be divided into three conferences of four teams each. Each conference will play a 12-game group phase. During this phase, each team will face the other three teams in its conference twice. The inaugural Kalahari Conference group phase will take place from Saturday, March 9, to Sunday, March 17, at the SunBet Arena. The Nile Conference group phase will take place from Friday, April 19, to Saturday, April 27, at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo. The Sahara Conference group phase will take place from Saturday, May 4, to Sunday, May 12, at the Dakar Arena in Dakar. The top two teams from each conference and the top two third-place 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 Friday, May 24, to Saturday, June 1.
The BAL also announced that it will host a Combine in Rabat, Morocco, from Friday, Jan. 5, to Sunday, Jan. 7. This will be the league’s first Combine in Africa. The three-day scouting event, which will be held at the Ibn Yassine Omnisports Hall, will feature 30 aspiring players from Africa, Europe, the U.S. and around the world taking part in anthropometric and athletic testing, positional skill development, and 5-on-5 games in front of team executives, coaches, and scouts. Robert Pack, a former NBA player, will serve as Combine Camp Director.
The BAL will also host a U-23 “BAL4HER” identification camp on Jan. 5, which will bring together 20 female players and four female coaches from across Morocco to participate in on-court basketball development programming. The league will also host a coaching clinic for 200 local coaches. BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall, FIBA Africa, BAL Board President Anibal Manave, and 2011 NBA champion and BAL Ambassador Ian Mahinmi will attend the Combine and interact with all of the participants.
Rwanda Development Board, NIKE, Jordan Brand, and Wilson will return as BAL Foundational Partners. The league’s roster of world-class marketing partners also includes Afreximbank, Hennessy, and RwandAir. The teams, conferences, game schedule, and additional information about the 2024 BAL season will be announced in the coming months.
About the BAL
The Basketball Africa League (BAL), a partnership between the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and NBA Africa, is a professional league featuring 12 club teams from across Africa that will tip off its fourth season in March 2024. Headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, the BAL builds on the foundation of club competitions FIBA Africa has organized across the continent and marks the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside North America. Fans can follow the BAL (@theBAL) on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube and register their interest in receiving more information at BAL.NBA.com.