Nairobi City Thunder among 12 teams set for BAL 2026

The Basketball Africa League (BAL) on Tuesday announced the 12 teams and group phase schedule for the 2026 BAL season, which will tip off on Friday, March 27 Arena in Pretoria, South Africa. 

The league’s sixth season will feature the top 12 club teams from 12 African countries playing a total of 42 games across the Kalahari Conference group phase from March 27 – Sunday, April 5 in Pretoria, the Sahara Conference group phase from Friday, April 24 – Sunday, May 3 at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat, Morocco, and the Playoffs and Finals from Friday, May 22 – Sunday, May 31 at BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.

The 12 teams include Dar City – the first-ever BAL participant from Tanzania – first-time BAL participants JCA Kings (Côte d’Ivoire), 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 champion 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 preeminent 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 while in the second game, the Johannesburg Giants will take on Dar City.  

Eight teams from across the two conferences will qualify for the Playoffs in Kigali.