Sahara Conference

Sahara Conference

League	Basketball Africa League
Sport	Basketball
Founded	2022
First season	2022
No. of teams	4 (2024–present) 6 (2022–2023)
Venue(s)	Dakar Arena
Most recent champion(s)	US Monastir (1st title) (2025)
2025 BAL season group phase#Sahara Conference

The Sahara Conference is one of the three conferences that make up the Basketball Africa League (BAL), the other two being the Nile Conference and the Kalahari Conference. All conferences currently consist of four teams.

The conference alignment began in the 2022 season, although plans to have conferences were already set up before the inaugural season. Named after the Sahara, the conference has been played at a single venue thus far, the Dakar Arena in Dakar, Senegal for the past two seasons.

Venues

From 2022 to 2024, all games of the Sahara Conference were played at the Dakar Arena located in Dakar. ^[a]

Current standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	PCT	Qualification
1	US Monastir	6	4	2	478	444	+34	.667	Advance to playoffs
2	Petro de Luanda	6	3	3	463	432	+31	.500 [b]
3	Kriol Star	6	3	3	461	506	−45	.500 [b]
4	ASC Ville de Dakar (H)	6	2	4	425	445	−20	.333

Source: BAL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Notes:

1. Officially, the Dakar Arena is located in the town of Diamniadio.
2. Head-to-head: Petro de Luanda 1–1 Kriol Star, +26 point differential.

Advertisement for the Sahara Conference in 2023

Conference winners

Although no official trophy or title is awarded, the team ending at the top of the standings in the conference is lauded as "Conference winners" by the BAL.

Sahara Conference results

Season	Winners	Conference record	Playoffs result	Ref.
2022 (Details)	REG (RWA)	4–1 (.800)	Lost in quarter-finals	[1]
2023 (Details)	Stade Malien (MLI)	3–2 (.600)	Won third place game	[2]
2024 (Details)	Rivers Hoopers (NGR)	4–2 (.667)	Won third place game
2025 (Details)	US Monastir (TUN)	4–2 (.667)	TBD	[3]

Titles by team

Team	Titles	Season(s) won
REG	1	2022
Stade Malien	1	2023
Rivers Hoopers	1	2024
US Monastir	1	2025

Standings

^	Denotes team that won the BAL championship
+	Denotes team that lost in the BAL finals
*	Denotes team that qualified for the BAL playoffs

Season	Positions (by team)
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
2022	REG* (4–1)	Monastir^ (4–1)	AS Salé* (3–2)	SLAC* (3–2)	Ferroviário (1–4)	DUC (1–4)
2023	Stade Malien* (3–2)	AS Douanes + (3–2)	REG* (3–2)	ABC Fighters* (3–2)	Monastir (3–2)	Kwara Falcons (0–5)
2024	Rivers Hoopers* (4–2)	AS Douanes* (3–3)	US Monastir* (3–3)	APR (2–4)	–
2025	US Monastir* (4–2)	Rivers Hoopers* (3–3)	Kriol Star* (3–3)	ASC Ville de Dakar (2–4)	–

References

1. "Rwanda's REG win Sahara leg, AS Sale into BAL playoffs". ESPN.com. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
2. "How Stade Malien became Kings of Basketball Africa League Sahara Conference". OJB SPORT. 29 March 2023. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
3. "Eldridge puts on a three-point show to send Monastir to Pretoria". The BAL. Retrieved 30 May 2025.