Basketball Africa League Season Four is here! Two days from now, Africa’s elite basketball club competition will tip off its new season in the newly added Kalahari Conference in Pretoria, South Africa. Final preparations are in top gear especially for teams drawn to play in Pretoria.
Season four promises to be an exciting one for all 12 teams which will also feature five debutants. Four teams from North Africa, three from the East, two each from the West and Central Africa and a team from the host country will battle for the baobab-inspired trophy.
Six teams – Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Angola – earned an automatic spot as champions of their various domestic competitions, while the other six got here through a rigorous “Road to BAL” tournament.
The teams for Season Four of the BAL include:Al Ahly (Egypt), US Monastir (Tunisia), Al Ahly Benghazi (Libya), FUS Rabat (Morocco), APR (Rwanda), City Oilers (Uganda), Dynamo (Burundi), AS Douanes (Senegal), Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), Petro (Angola), Bangui (Central African Republic), and Cape Town Tigers (South Africa).
Can anyone stop Al Ahly?
The Egyptians remain the team to beat heading into their second consecutive appearance at the BAL. After they successfully retained their Egyptian Basketball Super League title, they became the first African team to win a game at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, eventually finishing fourth, losing to Zhejiang Golden Bulls in the third-place game.
Coach Augusti Julbe Bosch remains in charge of a strong Al Ahly side, who are looking to become the first team to defend their title in the BAL. Al Ahly has an uphill task to achieve this feat, as many teams would try to stop them from creating history. Who wouldn’t want to be a champion?
US Monastir and Petro de Luanda eyes the big prize
US Monastir and Petro de Luanda have both made it to all three previous editions of Africa’s elite Basketball competition and will both head to season four as the only two teams who have played in all four editions. While Monastir lost the final of the inaugural edition to Zamalek, they redeemed themselves in 2022, and Petro is still in search of the title that has eluded them.
They only came close to winning it when they reached the 2022 final were they lost to Monsatir. Last year was tagged as a redemption season for the Jose Neto-led team after they finished the Nile Conference unscathed, including a nail-biting victory over the Nile Conference host, Al Ahly. They, however, fell short when they surprisingly lost to AS Douanes in the semi-final of the playoffs.
The Angolan champions will give it another shot this year, hoping they can finally get a hand on the title.
On the other hand, US Monastir were a shadow of themselves last season as they struggled to make it past the conference stage, with their fate decided on the last day of the group phase.
They had no answers for the Lions of Senegal and their roaring fans, who stood by them till the very end. The defending champions were thrown out of the competition, much to the shock of many.
The Tunisians would have to come much more prepared than they did last year to avoid another huge shock by other very well-prepared teams.
Debutants with a point to prove
Being a debutant cannot be seen as an excuse at the BAL after Stade Malien showed teams can go all the way with little or no experience in Africa’s elite competition. The Malian side went all the way last season and finished third, beating one of Africa’s powerhouses, Petro.
This year, five teams will be featuring at the BAL for the first time – Al Ahly Benghazi, Bangui, FUB Rabat, Dynamo, and APR.
APR qualified automatically after they knocked out former BAL representatives from Rwanda, the Patriots and Rwanda Energy Group, for the league title. The quartet of Bangui, Al Ahly Benghazi, FUS Rabat, and Dynamo gave a good account of themselves during the Road to BAL. The newbies have a lot to offer, and we are ready to be thrilled by these teams.
Although Bangui won the West Division Elite 16 at the Road to BAL with one of Africa’s best coaches, Liz Mills, in charge, it is in doubt if they could replicate the same performance after Mills opted not to re-sign with the Central African Republic team.
While FUS Rabat finished runners-up at the Road to BAL West Division, losing to Bangui in the final, Dynamo and Bengazi left it late to qualify. The Burundi team defeated COSPN 79-78, while the Libyan team qualified ahead of FAP of Cameroon in the third-place playoff game.
Will Rivers Hoopers be second time lucky?
Nigeria’s representative, Rivers Hoopers, will be at this year’s BAL after missing two editions of the competition. The only team making a return after their participation in the inaugural edition.
Hoopers, GS Petroliers of Algeria, AS Police (Mali), and GNBC (Madagascar) had not played in the BAL since the inaugural edition.
The Nigerians finished third in Group A with a 1-2 record in season one, with their only victory coming against GNBC.
A lot has changed since they last competed at the BAL, like the format, conferences, countries, etc. We wait to see what the Nigerians will bring forward when they face AS Douanes, APR, and US Monastir, whom they lost to in the group stage of season one.
Meanwhile, The Tigers will be making their third consecutive appearance in the Basketball Africa League. In back-to-back seasons at the road to BAL, the South African team won the East Division Elite 16 tournament to secure qualification to the BAL and in those two editions they have not gone past the quarter finals.
A lot is expected of the team who play host of the newly added Kalahari Conference in Pretoria. They will face 2022 finalists Petro and debutants FUS Rabat and Dynamo for a place in the playoffs.
