What to know and expect from the upcoming 'BAL 2025' games in Kigali
For the fifth time, Rwanda will host the BAL matches, currently hosting the Nile Conference. It will be held at the BK Arena from 17 to 25 May 2025.
Rwanda will be represented by APR BBC for the second consecutive time, where they will face Al Ahli Tripoli of Libya, MBB of South Africa and Nairobi City Thunder of Kenya.
In this article, we will review what you can know about these teams and what to expect from these highly anticipated matches.
In this group, Al Ahli Tripoli and APR BBC are given the most chances to chase the others, while MBB and Nairobi City Thunder may offer jobs.
Al Ahli Tripoli is given the chance to lead this group that will be based on players such as Jean Jacques Boissy who has a big name in this competition, Mohamed Al-Saadi and Nassim Bedrush.
The team has reached this stage undefeated as it has won all seven matches it has played.
Although participating for the first time, Al Ahli Tripoli is a cup team in Libya, having won eight league titles, four national titles and three Super Cups.
Another team that is particularly eyed by Rwandans is APR BBC who will be playing in front of their fans.
This is the second time the team has participated in this competition, where the first one went very badly.
In order to improve itself, it has now added various players such as Chasson Randle, Obadiah Noel, Dane Miller Jr and others.
This National Defense team is very strong domestically as it has won 14 championship titles.
Nairobi City Thunder became the first Kenyan team to participate in the BAL since it was started in 2020.
It is strong in this country as it is still undefeated in the Championship. It relies on players such as Evans Ganapamo, Uchenna Iroegbu, Tylor Ongwae and Cheikh Diong.
This is when MBB is also in these games for the first time, it will be coached by American Sam Vincent who won the NBA in 1986, where he will be replaced by Dean Murray who coached REG BBC of Rwanda in 2022.
In general, what you can know about these games is that it is the first time that three new teams have participated, namely Al Ahli Tripoli, MBB and Nairobi City Thunder.
Chasson Randle of APR BBC and Jaylen Adams of Al Ahli Tripoli are the players who will appear in it without being ‘drafted’ in the NBA.
It is when 15 players will participate, having passed through the University Championship of the United States of America (NCAA Division I).
In this competition, teams will play a first-leg and a second-leg match, with the top two teams qualifying for the finals.
Before the finals, which will be held in South Africa from 6 to 14 June 2024, eight teams will play qualifying matches, before the quarter-finals and the final.
So far, the teams that have qualified are Al Ittihad (Egypt), Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), US Monastir (Tunisia), Petro de Luanda (Angola) and Kriol Star (Cape Verde).
The last tournament was won by Petro de Luanda of Angola, becoming the first sub-Saharan team to win since the tournament began in 2020.
