After one year’s delay, basketball league in Africa will start in May

The inaugural African basketball league will take place in Rwanda in May after a delay of more than a year because of the pandemic. The new date for the 12-team tournament was announced by the NBA and FIBA, who co-run the event. The Basketball Africa League will start May 16 with the final on May 30.

The BAL is the NBA’S first collaboration to operate a league outside North America. It was scheduled to tip off last March, just as the pandemic reached Africa. Games will now all take place in the Rwandan capital. They were due to be spread across seven countries, with Egypt, Senegal, Nigeria, Angola, Morocco and Tunisia hosting the early stages of the tournament and Rwanda staging a Final Four. The format has also been changed, with teams now divided into three groups of four. Eight teams will qualify for the playoffs, which will be single-elimination games.

The BAL said it created “robust health and safety protocols for the 12 teams and personnel traveling to Rwanda” to deal with the virus, based on guidance from the World Health Organization, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, health officials and experts. FIBA hosted an African national championship qualifying tournament late last year without major problems. That experience “will contribute to a safe and successful inaugural BAL season,” FIBA Africa and BAL board president Anibal Manave said.

The BAL’S first season features national champs of Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia. Another six teams from Algeria, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Rwanda came through qualifying in 2019.