The Basketball Africa League (BAL) on Monday announced Nigeria representative Kwara Falcons among the top 12 club teams from 12 African countries that will compete in the 2023 BAL season, Abbeylivenetwork.com has gathered.
The 12 teams include defending BAL champion US Monastir (Tunisia) and five other teams returning from the 2022 season.
Kwara Falcons will go head-to-head with defending champions Union Sportive Monastirienne, US Monastir, from Tunisia.
US Monastir, the current champions, and five other teams returning from the 2022 season will be joined by five teams making their debut in the BAL for the first time.
Playing in the elite league for their first time are including the first BAL Abidjan Basket Club (Côte d’Ivoire), Al Ahly (Egypt), City Oilers (Uganda), Kwara Falcons (Nigeria) and Stade Malien (Mali).
Making their return are AS Douanes (Senegal), returning to the BAL after participating in the inaugural season in 2021.
The 12 teams will once again be divided into two conferences the Sahara Conference and the Nile Conference.
Each conference will play a 15-game group phase during which each team will face the other five teams in its conference once.
The Sahara Conference’s group phase will take place at the Dakar Arena from March 11-21, and the Nile Conference’s group phase will take place at Hassan Mostafa Indoor Sports Complex in Cairo from April 26 – May 6.
The top four teams from each conference will qualify for the BAL Playoffs and Finals, which will feature a single-elimination tournament at BK Arena in Kigali from May 21-27.
