Basketball
Road to Kigali: 12 teams set for 2026 BAL showdown
The 12 teams include Dar City, the first-ever BAL participant from Tanzania and 2024 BAL champion Petro de Luanda (Angola), the only team to have qualified for all six BAL seasons.
The Basketball Africa League (BAL) has announced the 12 teams and group phase schedule for the 2026 BAL season, ahead of tip off on Friday, March 27 at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.
According to Bal, the league’s 6th season will feature the top 12 club teams from 12 African countries playing a total of 42 games across the Kalahari Conference group phase from March 27 to April 5 in Pretoria, the Sahara Conference group phase from April 24 to May 3 at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat, Morocco, and the Playoffs and Finals from May 22 to May 31 at BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.
The 12 teams include Dar City – the first-ever BAL participant from Tanzania, first-time BAL participants JCA Kings (Côte d’Ivoire), Maktown Flyers (Nigeria), Johannesburg Giants (South Africa) and Club Africain (Tunisia), 2024 BAL champion Petro de Luanda (Angola) – the only team to have qualified for all six BAL seasons, and 2023 BAL champion Al Ahly (Egypt).
Welcoming five new teams into the BAL family, said BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall is a powerful sign of the league’s continued growth, the impact it is having on the African basketball ecosystem, and the incredible talent developing across the continent.
“We look forward to engaging our passionate fans in South Africa, Morocco, Rwanda and those watching across Africa and around the world as we continue to establish the BAL as the continent’s preeminent sport and entertainment property,” he said, as per BAL press release.
This season, the national league champions from seven countries, that is Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia automatically qualified for the BAL while the other five teams qualified through the Road to the BAL qualifying tournaments conducted by FIBA Africa across the continent from October – December, 2025.
As such, each conference will play a 15-game group phase during which each team will face the other five teams in its conference once. In the season opener, APR will face Al Ahly Ly while in the second game, Johannesburg Giants will take on Dar City.
Eight teams from across the two conferences will qualify for the Playoffs in Kigali.
Complete list of the 12 participating teams by conference is as follows; Kalhari: Johannesburg Giants (South Africa), Al Ahly Ly (Libya), Armée Patriotique Rwandaise Basketball Club (APR; Rwanda), Dar City (Tanzania), Nairobi City Thunder (Kenya) and Petro de Luanda (Angola).
Sahara conference: Fath Union Sport Rabat (FUS Rabat; Morocco), Al Ahly (Egypt), ASC Ville de Dakar (Senegal), Club Africain (Tunisia), JCA Kings (Côte d’Ivoire) and Maktown Flyers (Nigeria).
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