BAL Finals
Organising bodyBasketball Africa League
Founded2021
First season2021
International cup(s)FIBA Intercontinental Cup
Current championsEgypt Al Ahly (1st title)
(2023)
Websitethebal.com
2022 BAL Finals

The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is a seasonal basketball league established in 2019 and first held in 2021. The league is open to national champions of FIBA Africa member countries. The finals of each season are played in a single-game format, which is held at an arena that is chosen by the BAL organisation.

The data below does not include the FIBA Africa Club Champions Cup, the predecessor of the BAL that was held from 1972 to 2019.

Champions

The first parentheses in the champions and runners-up columns indicate the teams' playoff seed. The second parentheses indicate the number of times that teams have appeared in an BAL Finals as well as each respective team's BAL Finals record to date.

Season Year Champions Coach Result Runners-up Coach Arena Attendance Reference
1 2021 Egypt Zamalek (2) (1, 1–0) Augustí Julbe 76–63 Tunisia US Monastir (1) (1, 0–1) Mounir Ben Slimane Kigali Arena, Kigali, Rwanda 1,789[lower-alpha 1] [1]
2 2022 Tunisia US Monastir (2) (2, 1–1) Miodrag Perišić 83–72 Angola Petro de Luanda (2) (1, 0–1) José Neto BK Arena, Kigali, Rwanda (2) 10,000 [2][3][4]
3 2023 Egypt Al Ahly (2) (1, 1–0) Augustí Julbe 80–65 Senegal AS Douanes (2) (1, 0–1) Pabi Gueye BK Arena, Kigali, Rwanda (3) 7,532 [5]

Performances

Performance by club

Club Titles Runners-up Years won Years runners-up
Tunisia US Monastir 1 1 2022 2021
Egypt Al Ahly 1 0 2023 —
Egypt Zamalek 1 0 2021 —
Angola Petro de Luanda 0 1 — 2022
Senegal AS Douanes 0 1 — 2023

Performance by country

Teams from three nations have been to a BAL final, and teams from two countries have won the competition thus far.

Performances in finals by nation
Nation Titles Runners-up Total
Egypt Egypt 2 0 2
Tunisia Tunisia 1 1 2
Angola Angola 0 1 1
Senegal Senegal 0 1 1

Performance by head coach

Augustí Julbe is the only coach to have won two BAL titles
Club Titles Runners-up Years won Years runners-up
Spain Augustí Julbe 2 0 2021, 2023 —
Serbia Miodrag Perišić 1 0 2022 —
Tunisia Mounir Ben Slimane 0 1 — 2021
Brazil José Neto 0 1 — 2022
Senegal Pabi Gueye 0 1 — 2023

Finals hosted by arena

The BK Arena hosted three finals and will host three more finals starting from 2024

The finals are played in a pre-determined venue, from 2021 to 2023 this was the BK Arena (formerly the Kigali Arena) in Kigali as the BAL agreed with the Rwandan Ministry of Sports. Later, the BAL and the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) agreed to host the finals of 2024, 2026 and 2028 as well.[6]

Arena LocationFinalsYears hosted
BK Arena[lower-alpha 2] Rwanda Kigali, Rwanda 6 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026, 2028

Top scorer

Clubs denoted in italics lost the finals in the given year.

Year Top scorer Club Points
2021 Nigeria Michael Fakuade Egypt Zamalek 15
2022 Angola Gerson Gonçalves Angola Petro de Luanda 28
2023 South Sudan Nuni Omot Egypt Al Ahly 22

Players with multiple BAL titles

No. of championships Player Position Seasons Championship teams Ref.
Played Winning Percentage
2 Ivory Coast Solo Diabate G 3 67% Zamalek (2021)
US Monastir (2022)
Nigeria Michael Fakuade F 2 100% Zamalek (2021)
Al Ahly (2023)

Notes

  1. ↑ The attendance in the 2021 finals was limited due to government regulations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, as social distancing was enforced.
  2. ↑ The BK Arena was known as Kigali Arena until 2021.

References

  1. ↑ "Egypt's Zamalek wins inaugural Basketball Africa League". www.nba.com. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  2. ↑ "US Monastir are the 2022 Basketball Africa League Champions". The BAL. 28 May 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  3. ↑ "Kings in the North: Tunisia's US Monastir crowned BAL champions". ESPN.com. 29 May 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  4. ↑ "BAL Announces Teams, Conferences & Game Schedule Ahead of 2023 Season Tipping off March 11th". BAL. 13 February 2023. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  5. ↑ "Al Ahly are the 2023 BAL champions". The BAL. 27 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  6. ↑ "Basketball Africa League and Rwanda Development Board extend to play games | Times Aerospace". www.timesaerospace.aero. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
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