Nigeria, six other countries to host Basketball Africa League
Africa’s powerhouse, Nigeria is one of the seven cities selected to host the inaugural edition of the Basketball League, which will take place next year.
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According to the org-nisers, Lagos will be one of the host cities where BAL regular season will take place. Other host cities/countries are Cairo (Egypt), Dakar (Senegal), Luanda (Angola), Rabat (Morocco) and either Monastir or Tunis (Tunisia), while the final four and final will take place in Kigali, Rwanda.
The new professional league will feature 12 club teams from across Africa and scheduled to begin play in March 2020.
The announcements were made by BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall during a reception at the Musée des Civilisations Noires in Dakar in the presence of FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis, FIBA Africa Executive Director Alphonse Bilé, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, along with current and former NBA and WNBA players.
Read also: Nigeria to feature in new Basketball Africa League (BAL)
“Today’s announcements mark another important milestone as we head into what will be a historic first season for the Basketball Africa League,” Fall said.
“We now have seven great host cities where we will play and our first partnersh¡p with a world-class outfitter. We thank our first partners NIKE and Jordan Brand for supporting us on this journey and ensuring our teams have the best uniforms and on court products.”
Beginning in March 2020, six cities will host a regular season that will feature 12 teams divided into two conferences, with each conference playing in three cities.
The regular season will see the 12 teams play five games each for a total of 30 games, with the top three teams in each conference qualifying for the playoffs. The six playoff teams – the ‘Super 6’ – will play in a round-robin format to determine the four teams that will advance to the BAL Final Four and Final in Kigali, Rwanda in late 2020. The BAL Final Four and BAL Final will be single-elimination games.
NIKE and Jordan Brand will kit 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 partnersh¡p.
The announcement about the NBA and FIBA’s launch of the BAL, which would mark the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside of North America, was made at the NBA All-Star 2019 Africa Luncheon in Charlotte, North Carolina on February 16.
The NBA and FIBA also plan to dedicate financial support and resources toward the continued development of Africa’s basketball ecosystem, including training for players, coaches and referees, and infrastructure investment.