Kigali is set to host the 2025 Road to BAL East Division Elite 16 starting November 18, with eight teams competing for two coveted spots in the Basketball Africa League.
The FIBA-organized tournament will take place in the Land of a Thousand Hills for the first time since the 2021 inaugural season, when Rwanda’s Patriots participated.
However, this season, APR has qualified automatically, along with seven other teams from countries selected based on basketball history and commercial market size. As a result, the East Division Elite 16 qualifier won’t feature a team from Rwanda.
FIBA Africa has expanded the number of teams qualifying automatically for the 2025 BAL, raising the total from 6 to 8. Hence, 4 additional teams will secure spots through the Road to BAL tournaments.
Eight teams from East and Southern Africa will be in Kigali before November 17 to compete for the two slots in the East Division.
The teams include City Oilers (Uganda), Matero Magic (Zambia), Bravehearts Basketball (Malawi), Urunani (Burundi), Nairobi City Thunder (Kenya), 2 wild cards, and an invited NBA Academy.
They will be divided into two groups of 4, with the top 2 teams from each group advancing to the knockout stage (semifinals). The finalists will secure spots in the 2025 BAL.
The 2 teams from the East Division, along with the 2 teams from the West Division, will join the automatically qualified teams: Petro de Luanda (Angola), Al Ittihad Alexandria (Egypt), US Monastir (Tunisia), ASCVD (Senegal), APR (Rwanda), FUS Rabat (Morocco), MBB (South Africa), and the yet-to-be-determined Nigerian champions.
Together, these 12 teams will compete in the BAL 2025 season.
South Africa will host the Playoffs and Finals, Rwanda will host the Kalahari Conference, Morocco will host the Nile Conference, and Senegal will host the Sahara Conference.
South Africa has hosted the East Division Elite 16 qualifier for the last three seasons.
