The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is coming back with a bang with the 12 teams and group phase schedule for the 2026 BAL season getting underway on March 27 at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria.
The league’s sixth season will feature the top 12 club teams from African countries playing a total of 42 games across the Kalahari Conference group phase from March 27 to April 5 in Pretoria.
The Sahara Conference group phase from plays from Friday, April 24 to May 3 at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat, Morocco.
The play-offs and finals take place between May 22-31, at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.
The 12 teams include Dar City – the first-ever BAL participant from Tanzania – first-time BAL participants JCA Kings (Ivory Coast), Maktown Flyers (Nigeria), Johannesburg Giants (South Africa) and Club Africain (Tunisia), 2024 BAL champion Petro de Luanda (Angola) – the only team to have qualified for all six BAL seasons – and 2023 BAL champions Al Ahly (Egypt).
“Welcoming five new teams into the BAL family is a powerful sign of the league’s continued growth, the impact it is having on the African basketball ecosystem, and the incredible talent developing across the continent,” said BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall.
“We look forward to engaging our passionate fans in South Africa, Morocco, Rwanda and those watching across Africa and around the world as we continue to establish the BAL as the continent’s pre-eminent sport and entertainment property.”
This season, the national league champions from seven countries – Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia – automatically qualified for the BAL. The other five teams qualified through the Road to the BAL qualifying tournaments conducted by FIBA Africa across the continent from October to December 2025.
Each conference will play a 15-game group phase during which each team will face the other five teams in its conference once.
In the season opener, APR will face Al Ahly Ly. In the second game, the Johannesburg Giants will take on Dar City. Tickets for the Kalahari Conference group phase in Pretoria are on sale now at Ticketmaster.co.za.
Eight teams from across the two conferences will qualify for the Playoffs in Kigali.
