2023 BAL season | |
---|---|
League | Basketball Africa League |
Season | 2023 |
Dates | 11 March – 27 May 2023 |
Number of games | 38 |
Number of teams | 12 |
Season | |
Season MVP | Nuni Omot (Al Ahly) |
Finals | |
Champions | Al Ahly (1st title) |
Runners-up | AS Douanes |
Third place | Stade Malien |
Fourth place | Petro de Luanda |
Records | |
Biggest home win | 41 points Petro de Landa 87–48 Cape Town Tigers (30 April 2023) |
Highest attendance | 9,874 AS Douanes 70–76 ABC Fighters (11 March 2023) |
Lowest attendance | 214 REG 64–48 Kwara Falcons (12 March 2023) |
The 2023 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 3, was the third season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). [1] The season began on 11 March 2023 and ended on 27 May 2023. The playoffs were played in the BK Arena in Kigali, which hosted the final stage for a third season in a row. The regular season was played in Dakar, Senega and Cairo, Egypt, both venues hosted a conference for a second year in a row.
Al Ahly defeated AS Douanes in the final, which was played in the BK Arena in Kigali, for a first-ever BAL title. [2] As the winners, Al Ahly automatically qualified for the 2023 FIBA Intercontinental Cup Singapore. [3]
US Monastir were the defending champions, having won their first title in the previous edition, but were eliminated in the Sahara Conference.
The first round of the qualifying stage consists of 20 teams that play in four groups of five, each held in different cities. In the Elite 16, the teams are joined by 6 teams that qualified during the previous 2022 BAL qualification. Two groups of five teams are played to determine the six teams that advance to the main tournament. [4]
On 21 September 2021, FIBA Africa announced the 26 teams in the qualifying tournaments as well as the six countries that would qualify directly. [4]
Group A (Niamey) | Group B (Yaoundé) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Road to BAL |
Group A (Abidjan) | Group B (Abidjan) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Road to BAL |
Source: Road to BAL |
Semi-finals | Final | |||||
18 November 2022 | ||||||
Bangui Sporting Club | 61 | |||||
19 November 2022 | ||||||
SLAC | 69 | |||||
SLAC | 70 | |||||
18 November 2022 | ||||||
ABC Fighters | 81 | |||||
Stade Malien | 59 | |||||
ABC Fighters | 62 | |||||
Third place game | ||||||
19 November 2022 | ||||||
Bangui Sporting Club | 59 | |||||
Stade Malien | 62 |
Group A (Dar es Salaam) | Group B (Antananarivo) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Group C (Johannesburg) | Group D (Johannesburg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Road to BAL |
Source: Road to BAL |
Semi-finals | Final | |||||
26 November | ||||||
Urunani | 62 | |||||
27 November | ||||||
Ferroviário da Beira | 68 | |||||
Ferroviário da Beira | 71 | |||||
26 November | ||||||
Cape Town Tigers | 81 | |||||
City Oilers | 69 | |||||
Cape Town Tigers | 75 | |||||
Third place game | ||||||
27 November | ||||||
Urunani | 62 | |||||
City Oilers | 71 |
Petro de Luanda was the first team to qualify for the season when it won the Angolan League on 10 May 2022. [5] The last qualified team was City Oilers who captured the third place in the Road to BAL East Division on 27 November 2022. The twelve teams of the 2023 BAL season were officially confirmed on 13 February 2023. [6] After an absence of a Nigerian representative in the 2022 season due to FIBA's punishment of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, [7] Kwara Falcons was directly qualified as winners of the Nigerian Premier League. [8]
Al Ahly, Kwara Falcons, ABC Fighters and Stade Malien will make their debut in the competition. ABC Fighters is the first team from Ivory Coast to play in the BAL, while City Oilers is the first team from Uganda. [9] [6]
Two teams, defending champions US Monastir and runners-up Petro de Luanda, appear in their third consecutive season.
Team | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Previous appearance | Consecutive appearances | Previous best performance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Petro de Luanda | Angolan Basketball League winners | 10 May 2022 [5] | 3rd | 2022 | 3 | Runners-up (2022) |
US Monastir | Championnat National A winners | 16 May 2022 | 3rd | 2022 | 3 | Champions (2022) |
Al Ahly | Egyptian Super League winners | 16 May 2022 [10] | 1st | – | 1 | – |
REG | RBL winners | 19 September 2022 [11] | 2nd | 2022 | 2 | Quarter-finals (2022) |
AS Douanes | Nationale 1 winners | 15 October 2022 [12] | 2nd | 2021 | 1 | Quarter-finals (2021) |
Kwara Falcons | NBBF Premier League winners | 12 November 2022 [8] | 1st | – | 1 | – |
ABC Fighters | Road to BAL West Division winners | 17 November 2022 [9] | 1st | – | 1 | – |
SLAC | Road to BAL West Division runners-up | 17 November 2022 [13] | 2nd | 2022 | 2 | Quarter-finals (2022) |
Stade Malien | Road to BAL West Division third place | 18 November 2022 [14] | 1st | – | 1 | – |
Ferroviário da Beira | Road to BAL East Division runners-up | 26 November 2022 [15] | 2nd | 2022 | 2 | Group stage (2022) |
Cape Town Tigers | Road to BAL East Division winners | 26 November 2022 [16] | 2nd | 2022 | 2 | Quarter-finals (2022) |
City Oilers | Road to BAL East Division third place | 27 November 2022 | 1st | – | 1 | – |
Augustí Julbe of Al Ahly was the only coach this season to already have won a BAL championship, as he won the 2021 title with Zamalek.
Team | Head coach | Captain |
---|---|---|
ABC Fighters | Liz Mills [17] | Stéphane Konaté |
Al Ahly | Augustí Julbe [18] | Seif Samir |
AS Douanes | Pabi Guèye | Alkaly Ndour |
Cape Town Tigers | Rasheed Hazzard [19] | Pieter Prinsloo |
City Oilers | Mandy Juruni | James Okello |
Ferroviário da Beira | Luís Lopes Hernandez [20] | Will Perry |
Kwara Falcons | Baba Jubril | Victor Ezeh |
Petro de Luanda | José Neto [21] | Carlos Morais |
REG | Dean Murray [22] | Olivier Shyaka |
SLAC | Željko Zečević | Ibrahima Kalil Fofana |
Stade Malien | Kaba Kanté | Makan Keita |
US Monastir | Miodrag Perišić [23] | Radhouane Slimane |
Each BAL team was allowed to have four foreign players on its roster, including only two non-African players. Players in italics were signed only for the playoffs. If players have multiple nationalities, the nationality of an African nation is shown.
Each team also featured one player from the NBA Academy Africa, under the BAL Elevate program. [24] The players were drafted in an online meeting by the teams and the official list were announced on 28 February 2023. [25]
Notes
US Monastir, as champions of the 2022 BAL season, participated in the 2023 FIBA Intercontinental Cup. It was the second time a BAL team participated in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup. In the competition, played in February and hosted in La Laguna in Spain, Monastir finished fourth after two losses against CB Canarias and Rio Grande Valley Vipers. [57]
ESPN declared Petro de Luanda, last year's runners-up, as the title favourites in their annual season preview. [58]
The league hosted their official second BAL Combine on 15 and 16 January 2023 at The One Ball Training Center in Paris. [59] The combine featured 30 players and was directed by former NBA head coach Quin Snyder. [60] Several players signed a contract with a BAL team after participating in the Combine. [61]
Player | Team |
---|---|
Adonis Filer | REG |
Chudier Bile | ABC Fighters |
Makhtar Gueye | Ferroviário da Beira |
Zaire Wade | Cape Town Tigers |
The schedule for the 2023 season was officially released on 13 February 2023. [6]
Phase | Round | Draw date | Games |
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Qualifying | First Round | – | 12–30 October 2022 |
Elite 16 | 3 November 2022 | 14–27 November 2022 | |
Group phase | Sahara Conference | – | 11–21 March 2023 |
Nile Conference | 26 April – 6 May 2023 | ||
Playoffs | Quarter-finals | 21–27 May 2023 | |
Semi-finals | |||
Final and third place |
The regular season is played from 11 March to 6 May 2023. The twelve teams are divided into two conferences of six teams each. Teams in each group play each other one time, whereafter the top four teams advance to the playoffs.
Tiebreakers |
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The ranking of teams in the regular season is determined as follows: [62]
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The games of the Sahara Conference were played from 11 March to 21 March 2023 and were hosted in the Dakar Arena in Dakar, Senegal for a second consecutive season. Stade Malien finished as Conference winner, due to their head-to-head point difference that determined the ranking of five teams with a 3–2 record. The defending BAL champions, US Monastir, missed the playoffs after they lost on the last game day.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | PCT | Qualification | SML | ASD | REG | ABC | USM | KWA | |
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1 | Stade Malien | 5 | 3 | 2 | 378 | 361 | +17 | .600 [lower-alpha 1] | Advance to playoffs | — | — | 84–64 | — | 68–78 | — | |
2 | AS Douanes (H) | 5 | 3 | 2 | 350 | 331 | +19 | .600 [lower-alpha 1] | 74–58 | — | — | 70–76 | — | — | ||
3 | REG | 5 | 3 | 2 | 356 | 344 | +12 | .600 [lower-alpha 1] | — | 69–55 | — | — | 79–84 | 64–48 | ||
4 | ABC Fighters | 5 | 3 | 2 | 389 | 390 | −1 | .600 [lower-alpha 1] | 71–90 | — | 73–80 | — | 90–74 | — | ||
5 | US Monastir | 5 | 3 | 2 | 381 | 388 | −7 | .600 [lower-alpha 1] | — | 60–76 | — | — | — | 85–74 | ||
6 | Kwara Falcons | 5 | 0 | 5 | 341 | 381 | −40 | .000 | 74–78 | 68–75 | — | 76–79 | — | — |
The games of the Nile Conference will be played from 26 April to 6 May 2023 and will be played in the Hassan Moustafa Sports Hall in 6th of October, Cairo, Egypt.
Petro de Luanda went undefeated and won the conference, after defeating four teams with a margin of at least 17 points. In the most notable match-up of the conference, Petro de Luanda defeated Al Ahly on a buzzer-beater by Gerson Gonçalves.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | PCT | Qualification | PDL | AAH | CFV | CTT | SLC | COI | |
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1 | Petro de Luanda | 5 | 5 | 0 | 463 | 363 | +100 | 1.000 | Advance to playoffs | — | 91–90 | — | 87–48 | — | 89–71 | |
2 | Al Ahly (H) | 5 | 4 | 1 | 425 | 380 | +45 | .800 | — | — | 92–73 | — | 80–70 | — | ||
3 | Ferroviário da Beira | 5 | 2 | 3 | 416 | 462 | −46 | .400 [lower-alpha 1] | 76–101 | — | — | 82–76 | — | — | ||
4 | Cape Town Tigers | 5 | 2 | 3 | 354 | 398 | −44 | .400 [lower-alpha 1] | — | 75–91 | — | — | — | 80–70 | ||
5 | SLAC | 5 | 1 | 4 | 409 | 427 | −18 | .200 [lower-alpha 2] | 78–95 | — | 97–109 | 68–75 | — | — | ||
6 | City Oilers | 5 | 1 | 4 | 375 | 412 | −37 | .200 [lower-alpha 2] | — | 70–72 | 96–75 | — | 68–96 | — |
The playoffs were held from 21 May to 27 May 2023 in the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda for the third consecutive season.
Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||
21 May | ||||||||||
Al Ahly | 94 | |||||||||
25 May | ||||||||||
REG | 77 | |||||||||
Al Ahly | 78 | |||||||||
21 May | ||||||||||
Stade Malien | 73 | |||||||||
Stade Malien | 78 | |||||||||
27 May | ||||||||||
Cape Town Tigers | 69 | |||||||||
Al Ahly | 80 | |||||||||
22 May | ||||||||||
AS Douanes | 65 | |||||||||
Petro de Luanda | 88 | |||||||||
25 May | ||||||||||
ABC Fighters | 84 | |||||||||
Petro de Luanda | 86 | |||||||||
22 May | ||||||||||
AS Douanes | 92 | Third place game | ||||||||
AS Douanes | 93 | |||||||||
26 May | ||||||||||
Ferroviário da Beira | 73 | |||||||||
Petro de Luanda | 65 | |||||||||
Stade Malien | 73 | |||||||||
The winner of the Coach of the Year award was announced on 26 May. [63] The Defensive Player of the Year, Sportsmanship Award and Most Valuable Player were announced on 27 May. The BAL's community service award, the Ubuntu Award, was decided by an online fan vote and the winner was announced on 30 January 2024. [64]
Category | Player | Team(s) | Statistic |
---|---|---|---|
Points per game | Falando Jones | City Oilers | 21.6 |
Rebounds per game | Aliou Diarra | Stade Malien | 12.8 |
Assists per game | Cleveland Thomas | REG | 6.7 |
Steals per game | Dane Miller Jr. | SLAC | 3.2 |
Blocks per game | Aliou Diarra | Stade Malien | 2.3 |
Minutes per game | Dane Miller Jr. | SLAC | 39.3 |
FG% | Dane Miller Jr. | SLAC | 55.6% |
3P% | Ibrahima Thomas | US Monastir | 44.8% |
FT% | Will Perry | Ferroviário da Beira | 96.7% |
Category | Player | Team | Statistic |
---|---|---|---|
Points | Will Perry | Ferroviário da Beira | 41 |
Rebounds | Aliou Diarra | Stade Malien | 16 |
Assists | Cleveland Thomas | REG | 10 |
Dane Miller Jr. | SLAC | ||
Will Perry | Ferroviário da Beira | ||
Steals | Ulrich Kra | ABC Fighters | 6 |
Blocks | Aliou Diarra | Stade Malien | 5 |
Ater Majok | Petro de Luanda | ||
Mouhamadou Diagne | AS Douanes | ||
Three pointers | Will Perry | Ferroviário da Beira | 9 |
Ater James "AJ" Majok is a professional basketball player for Sagesse Club. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2011 NBA draft with the 58th overall pick. Born in Sudan and raised in Australia, Majok represents Lebanon internationally. Standing at 6 ft 11 in, Majok mostly stands out with his athletic and defensive abilities. He was the BAL Defensive Player of the Year in 2022.
Mouloukou Souleyman Diabate, commonly known as Solo Diabate, is an Ivorian basketball player who currently plays for Al Ahly Benghazi.
Marcus Christopher Crawford is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for Al Ittihad Alexandria of the Egyptian Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for the University of Memphis. Crawford has an extensive career with teams in Europe and Africa. He guided AS Douanes to the 2023 BAL Final, and was named to the All-BAL First Team the same year.
Omar Abada is a Tunisian professional basketball player who plays for Al Ahly since 2023. Abada also plays for the Tunisia national basketball team.
Union Sportive Monastirienne, commonly known as US Monastir, is a Tunisian professional basketball club based in Monastir. Established in 1959, the team plays in the Pro A the first division league in Tunisia and has won seven national championships. Monastir also plays in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) since the inaugural season in 2021. Home games are played in the Mohamed-Mzali Sports Hall.
Abidjan Basket Club Fighters, commonly known as ABC Fighters, is an Ivorian basketball club based in the city of Abidjan. Founded in 1997, the team is the most successful men teams in the country, with 19 national championships won, and one continental FIBA Africa Champions Cup in 2005. The home arena of the team is the Palais des Sports de Treichville.
Association Sportive des Douanes, commonly known as AS Douanes, is a Senegalese basketball club from Dakar. Part of the Senegalese national customs agency, the team plays in the national top division Nationale 1 (NM1) and in the Basketball Africa League (BAL).
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The 2022 BAL Finals was the championship game of the 2022 BAL season, the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The final was played in the BK Arena in Kigali on 28 May 2022, between Angolan club Petro de Luanda and Tunisian club US Monastir.
Stade Malien is a Malian basketball team based in Bamako. It is part of the multi-sports club, which also has a football team and rugby team. Founded in 1960, Stade plays in the Ligue 1, the highest level of basketball in Mali. They play in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) in the 2023 season.
The 2022–23 season of US Monastir was the 64th in the club's history. It is the club's third season in the Basketball Africa League (BAL). This season US Monastir was coached by Marouan Kechrid until October, when Linos Gavriel took over. However, Gavriel did not coach during the 2023 BAL season, where the head coaching duties were given to former BAL championship-winning Miodrag Perišić.
The Sahara Conference of the 2023 BAL season was played from 11 March to 21 March 2023 and was hosted in the Dakar Arena in Dakar, Senegal for a second straight season in a row. In a group of six teams, all team played each other one time. The top four teams in the standings advanced to the 2023 BAL Playoffs.
The 2023 BAL Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the 2023 BAL season to determine the champions of the third Basketball Africa League (BAL) season. For a third consecutive season, the playoffs will be hosted in the BK Arena in Kigali.
The 2024 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 4, will be the 4th season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season will begin on 9 March 2024 and will finish with the final on 1 June 2024, which will be played in the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda, for a fourth consecutive season.
The 2023 BAL Final was the championship game of the 2023 BAL season, the third season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), and concluded the playoffs. The final was played on 27 May 2023 in the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda, for a third year in a row. The final was contested by Egyptian club Al Ahly and Senegalese club AS Douanes.
Jean Jacques Boissy is a Senegalese basketball player who last played for Aurore Vitré Basket and the Senegal national team. Playing at point guard, he is a graduate of the NBA Academy Africa and has played professionally since 2021. Boissy was an All-BAL First Team selection in 2023.
The 2022–23 season Al Ahly men's basketball season was the 93rd season of Al Ahly's men's basketball team. This season, the Reds made their debut in the Basketball Africa League (BAL), and won their second continental title.
The AS Douanes men's basketball team played the 2023 season in the Nationale 1 (NM1) and the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Having won the previous national championship, the Douanes returned to the BAL after one-year of absence. They signed Terrell Stoglin and Chris Crawford for the season as American import players. On 27 September 2023, AS Douanes won its record-setting 11th national championship, thus overtaking ASFA as the Senegalese club with the most NM1 titles.