Basketball Africa League 2022: Egyptian club Zamalek to return to defend title
- Published
Representatives from participating clubs in the 2022 Basketball Africa League gathered in front of the African Renaissance Monument in Dakar
Champions Zamalek are among five clubs from the inaugural Basketball Africa League (BAL) campaign who will return for the 2022 season.
Beaten finalists US Monastir of Tunisia, Moroccan side AS Sale, Cameroon's FAP and Petro de Luanda from Angola are the other four returning teams.
The 2022 campaign will see 12 sides from around the continent split into two conferences of six, and face each other once in a round-robin format.
Senegal's capital Dakar will host the Sahara Conference in March, with the Nile Conference being played in the Egyptian capital Cairo in April.
The top eight teams will qualify for the play-offs, which will be held in Rwanda in May and culminate in the final on Saturday, 28 May.
Senegal's Dakar Universite Club will face Guinea's Seydou Legacy Athletique Club at the Dakar Arena in the season opener on 5 March.
"We are thrilled to welcome seven new teams and four new countries into the second season," BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall said.
"Zamalek will anchor the five returning teams after representing the BAL in the Fiba Intercontinental Cup this month in Cairo. We are excited that more fans will have an opportunity to watch the games live in three world-class African cities."
Champions from national leagues in Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia earned their spots in the 2022 BAL season by winning their respective national leagues.
The remaining teams from Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Mozambique, South Africa and South Sudan all secured their spots through qualifying tournaments conducted across the continent in late 2021.
There will be a total of 38 games this year, an increase of 12 matches from the inaugural season played in Kigali, Rwanda, and won by Egyptian club Zamalek.
BAL 2022
Sahara Conference (5-15 March, Dakar)
AS Sale (Association Sportive Sale) - Morocco
DUC (Dakar Universite Club) - Senegal
CFV Beira (Clube Ferroviario da Beira) - Mozambique
REG (Rwanda Energy Group) - Rwanda
SLAC (Seydou Legacy Athletique Club) - Guinea
US Monastir (Union Sportive Monastirienne) - Tunisia
Nile Conference (9-19 April, Cairo)
BC Espoir Fukash - Democratic Republic of the Congo
Cape Town Tigers - South Africa
Cobra Sport (Cobra Sports Club) - South Sudan
FAP (Forces Armees et Police Basketball) - Cameroon
Petro de Luanda (Clube Atletico Petroleos de Luanda) - Angola
Zamalek - Egypt