Basketball Africa League FIBA: As Africa’s Premier Basketball League looks all set to start from May 18, 2021 lets take a detailed look in its format after a host of changes.
The FIBA’s Africa Basketball League was the continent’s top-tier league until it was replaced in 2020 by Basketball Africa League, which is a joint venture by NBA and FIBS to generate the best sporting talent form Africa. Postponed by the pandemic, BAL is all set to start from May 18, 2021.
The Qualification of the 12 team to participate in the inaugural BAL is based on a format much familiar to fans in the UEFA Champions League, wherein the teams have to qualify in their respective national circuits.
Different African countries will each be given the opportunity to send one representing club. After which in the BAL Qualifying Tournaments, teams play each other in groups for six remaining spots in the BAL regular season.
Six teams from six countries qualify directly for the regular season to make a total of twelve teams. As there have been a host of changes in the regular-season format already, let us discuss about the detailed Format of the Basketball Africa League.
Basketball Africa League FIBA: A look at the 12-Teams
Group A: US Monastir (Tunisia), Rivers Hooper (Nigeria), Patriots (Rwanda), GNBC (Madagascar)
Group B: Petro de Luanda (Angola) , AS Sale (Morocco), AS Police (Mali), FAP (Cameroon)
Group C: Zamalek (Egypt), AS Douanes (Senegal), GS Petroliers (Algeria), Ferroviario de Maputo (Mozanbique)
What is the format of the inaugural Basketball Africa League?
Regular Season
The format of the regular season of the Basketball Africa League has been changed into a league format. All the 12-teams have been divided into 3 groups of 4 teams wherein each team will play against one another to determine the top 2 from each group to progress to the further stage.
Super 6
Once when the Top 2 teams from each group have been derived, those Super 6 teams are going to lock horns against one another in a round-robin format to determine the Final 4.
Knockout Phase
Unlike the NBA, the Final 4 will not play a 7-game series, but one a knockout game to determine the winner of the inaugural Basketball Africa League.
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