The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is making its return to South Africa for its fifth season, kicking off on 5 April 2025, at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat, Morocco, and closing off with the finals on 14 June at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.
The 2025 season will feature top 12 club teams from 12 African countries competing in a total of 48 games across four iconic cities: Rabat in Morocco, Dakar in Senegal, Kigali in Rwanda, and Pretoria in South Africa.
The teams will be divided into three conferences, each consisting of four teams. The Kalahari Conference will open the group phase in Rabat from 5 April to 13 April.
Following this, the Sahara Conference will take center stage in Dakar from 26 April to 4 May, while the Nile Conference will close out the group phase in Kigali from 17 May to 25 May.
Eight teams from across the three conferences will qualify for the Playoffs in Pretoria, which will tip off on 6 June with the Finals to take place on 14 June.
Each team will play against the other three teams in its conference twice, and the top eight teams across all three conferences will advance to the Playoffs in Pretoria, culminating in the highly anticipated Finals.
National league champions from Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tunisia will automatically qualify for the BAL, while the remaining five teams will earn their spots through the Road to the BAL qualifying tournaments conducted by FIBA Africa between October and December 2024.
The league’s foundational partners, including the Rwanda Development Board, NIKE, Jordan Brand, and Wilson, remain integral to its success, while marketing partners such as Castle Lite, Hennessy, and RwandAir will continue to amplify the BAL experience.
The 2024 season set a high bar, reaching fans in 214 countries and territories in 17 languages, achieving a record attendance of over 120,000 fans across its host countries, and generating more than 1.2 billion impressions on social media.
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