The 2025 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 5, will be the 5th season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season will begin on 5 April and end on 14 June 2025 with the final.[1] The playoffs and finals will be held in Pretoria, South Africa, for the first time.[2]
Petro de Luanda were the defending champions, having won the previous season, but lost in the final to Al Ahli Tripoli, who became the first Libyan team to win the BAL championship.[3] As winners, Al Ahli Tripoli earned the right to play in the 2025 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
On 21 November 2024, the BAL announced that the group phase would be hosted in three countries, as the Nile Conference is hosted at the Salle Moulay Abdellah in Rabat, Morocco, the Sahara Conference in Dakar Arena, Dakar, Senegal, and the Kalahari Conference in the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.[1] The playoffs and final will be played in the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.[1]
The number of directly qualified teams changed from the previous four seasons, as the BAL now allocated eight direct slots to designated leagues and markets. As such, the champions of Morocco were given a direct spot in the tournament, while only four[2] teams would qualify through the Road to BAL.[5]FIBA Africa had reported that the champions of South Africa received direct qualification,[6] and this was effectively honored when South African champions MBB were given a wild card spot.
Location of teams of the 2025 BAL season . Green: Nile Conference; Yellow: Sahara Conference; Red: Kalahari Conference.
The defending champions Petro de Luanda were the first team to qualify, as they won the 2023–24 Angolan Basketball League on 12 May 2024 to qualify for a record-extending fifth season in a row.[7]Al Ittihad Alexandria will make its debut, becoming the third Egyptian club to play in the league and it is the greatest Egyptian basketball club in history.[8]ASCVD became the third Senegalese club to qualify following their Nationale 1 title.[9]MBB from South Africa was announced on 12 January 2025 as the last representative, after they were given a wild card.[10]
The season had six debuting teams, setting a new record.[11]
The group phase is played between 5 April and 25 May 2024. The twelve teams of the group phase are allocated into three conferences. The BAL announced the official schedule on 28 February 2025.[11]
Tiebreakers
The ranking of teams in the regular season was determined as follows:[23][24]
Win-loss record;
Head-to-head record;
Point differential in the games between the respective teams;
Number of points scored in the games between the respective teams;
Average point differential in all games against other teams in the Conference;
Average number of points scored in all games played against other teams in the Conference;
Source: BAL Rules for classification: Teams ranked on 1) Win-loss record; 2) Head-to-head record; 3) Point differential in the games between the respective teams; 4) Number of points scored in the games between the respective teams; 5) Average point differential in all games against other teams in the Conference; 6) Average number of points scored in all games played against other teams in the Conference; 7) Drawing.
Seeding games
The seeding games between the eight teams that advanced from the group phase were played on 8 and 9 June 2025. The match-ups were determined based on an aggregate ranking of all teams, with four pairings to decide the final seeds. The numbers in brackets are the seeds of the teams.
The Coach of the Year award was announced on 14 June 2025, while the other awards were announced on 15 June 2025, before or after the final.[25] For the first time in league history, fans were allowed to vote for the winner of the MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year awards, having the option of picking between four finalists. The fan vote made up for 25% of the points, with the other 75% coming from the MVP panel.[26][27]
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Al Ahli Tripoli (1st title)
Petro de Luanda 
APR 
Al Ittihad Alexandria 
