Basketball
The Basketball Africa League
(BAL) today announced the 12 club teams from 12 African countries that will
compete in the league’s inaugural season, which will tip off Friday, March 13
at the Dakar Arena in Dakar, Senegal:
The announcement was made by
BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall at the NBA All-Star 2020 Africa Luncheon in
Chicago, in the presence of FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis, NBPA
Executive Director Michele Roberts, Retired General Martin E. Dempsey, NBA
Commissioner Adam Silver, FIBA President Hamane Niang, FIBA Africa and BAL
Board President Anibal Manave, FIBA Africa Executive Director Alphonse Bilé,
Philadelphia 76ers Co-Managing Partner David Blitzer, Milwaukee Bucks Co-Owners
Wes Edens and Marc Lasry, Brooklyn Nets Alternate Governor Oliver Weisberg, NBA
Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum, Toronto Raptors
President Masai Ujiri and members of the NBA family, including Las Vegas Aces
center and three-time WNBA All-Star Liz Cambage (Australia; parent from
Nigeria), New Orleans Pelicans Vice President of Basketball Operations and Team
Development and three-time WNBA Champion Swin Cash, NBA Cares Ambassador Jason
Collins, former NBA players Festus Ezeli (Nigeria), Mamadou N’Diaye (Senegal)
and Olumide Oyedeji (Nigeria), Boston Celtics two-way player Tacko Fall
(Senegal), 2005 WNBA Champion Hamchétou Maïga-Ba (Mali), two-time NBA Champion
D.J. Mbenga (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Capital City Go-Go General
Manager Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Ghana), NBA Global Ambassador Dikembe Mutombo
(Democratic Republic of the Congo), Oklahoma City Thunder guard/forward Abdel
Nader (Egypt), Los Angeles Sparks forward and two-time WNBA All-Star Chiney
Ogwumike (parents from Nigeria) and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Josh Okogie
(Nigeria).
“This is a historic moment
as we welcome the 12 teams that will participate in our inaugural season,” said
BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall. “These
teams have earned the opportunity to represent their respective countries and
will establish the BAL as a world-class product that entertains fans of all
ages when the season tips off March 13.”
Champions from national
leagues in six countries – Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia
– were guaranteed representation in the inaugural BAL season. The remaining six teams, which come from
Algeria, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Rwanda, secured their
participation through BAL qualifying tournaments conducted by FIBA Africa
across the continent in late 2019.
NIKE and Jordan Brand will
outfit the league’s 12 teams with official game uniforms, warmup apparel, socks
and practice gear, with six teams featured in NIKE and the other six teams in
Jordan Brand. The collaboration with
NIKE and Jordan Brand marks the BAL’s first partnership.
The inaugural BAL regular
season will take place in Cairo (Egypt), Dakar (Senegal), Lagos (Nigeria),
Luanda (Angola), Monastir (Tunisia) and Salé (Morocco). Kigali (Rwanda) will host the first-ever BAL
Playoffs and Finals.
The BAL will debut with 12
club teams from across Africa divided into two conferences, with each
conference playing in three cities. Each
team will play five games in the regular season, facing every team in its
conference once. The top four teams in
each conference will qualify for the single-elimination playoffs in Kigali,
Rwanda.
Additional details about the
BAL will be announced in the coming weeks.
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