The 2021 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 1, was the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Established as a joint effort between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and FIBA, the BAL is the highest tier continental league of Africa, replacing the FIBA Africa Basketball League. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BAL held its inaugural season one year later as planned, with the season beginning in 2021. Initially the league planned to play in six venues in six countries; however, due to the pandemic the season was held in a bio-secure bubble in Kigali, Rwanda. The season began on 16 May 2021 and ended on 30 May 2021.
The qualifying rounds for the season were held from 16 October to 21 December 2019, with national champion of each African country has the opportunity to qualify through the qualifying rounds. Meanwhile, six national champions directly qualified for the regular season to make a total of twelve teams in the main tournament.
Zamalek won the first-ever BAL championship after beating US Monastir in the finals and going undefeated over the season.
Organisation The plans to establish the BAL by FIBA and the NBA were first revealed in February 2019 during the 2019 NBA All-Star Game.
In August 2019, the seven host cities for the BAL season were announced. Additionally, it was revealed that the inaugural BAL Final Four would be played in the Kigali Arena in Kigali, Rwanda. BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall, later announced at the NBA All-Star 2020 Africa Luncheon in Chicago, that the season was planned to tip off on 13 March 2020. On 20 February 2020, it was announced that the 12 teams were to be drawn in two conferences, named the Sahara and Nile Conferences.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
On 3 March 2020, the BAL announced it was postponing its inaugural season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was made following recommendations of the Senegalese government.
In November, the start of the inaugural season was delayed for a second time and the new season was moved to a later to be announced date in 2021. In March it was announced the league would commence in May 2021. The complete event was rescheduled to be held in the Kigali Arena and the regular season changed its format from two groups to three groups of four. All twelve teams were hosted in a bio-secure bubble in which all players were regularly tested for COVID-19. All games were broadcast live by ESPN Africa.
Qualification The twelve teams for the inaugural BAL season had to qualify in their domestic competitions to be able to play in the league, similar to other FIBA-organised competitions. Six teams qualified directly as their national champions while an additional six teams qualified through regional qualifying tournaments.
Direct qualification FIBA announced that the national champions of six member associations would be directly qualified for the regular season. These teams are from countries which are also hosts cities for the regular season, except for Final Four host Rwanda. On 23 October 2019, AS Douanes won the Senegalese national championship, becoming the first club to qualify.
+Directly qualified teamsNo.CountryTeamNotes1Petro de LuandaDirectly Qualified2Zamalek3AS SaléNo.CountryTeamNotes4Rivers HoopersDirectly Qualified5AS Douanes6US Monastir
Qualifying tournaments
Each of the FIBA Africa member associations was able to register one team from its country to participate in the qualifying tournaments. A total of 31 teams played in the first round, which was divided into six groups in six different host cities. The qualification tournaments started on 16 October and will end 21 December 2019. +Teams and countries playing in the 2020 BAL Qualifying TournamentsNo.CountryTeamNotes1GS PétroliersQualified2ASPAC3Dolphins4Dynamo5FAP6Abeilles7Usoni8ASB Mazembe9Hawassa City10Manga11Braves of Customs12SLAC13ABC14KPA15NPA Pythons16Al-Nasr BenghaziNo.CountryTeamNotes17GNBC18Brave Hearts19AS Police20Ferroviário de Maputo21Lions Club 22AS Nigelec 23Patriots24Beau Vallon Heat 25Jozi Nuggets 26Cobra 27JKT 28City Oilers 29UNZA Pacers 30Mercenaries 31Virgen Maria de Africa
Teams Qualified teams Team Home city Qualified as Qualified on US Monastir Monastir, Tunisia Winners of the 2018–19 Championnat National A Zamalek Cairo, Egypt Winners of the 2018–19 Egyptian Super League Petro de Luanda Luanda, Angola Winners of the 2018–19 Angolan Basketball League AS Salé Salé, Morocco Winners of the 2018–19 Division Excellence AS Douanes Dakar, Senegal Winners of the 2019 Nationale 1 season Rivers Hoopers Port Harcourt, Nigeria Winners of the 2019 NBBF President Cup GS Pétroliers Algiers, Algeria West Division winners FAP Yaoundé, Cameroon West Division runners-up AS Police Bamako, Mali West Division third place Patriots Kigali, Rwanda East Division winners GNBC Antsirabe, Madagascar East Division runners-up Ferroviário de Maputo Maputo, Mozambique East Division third place
Personnel and sponsorship Team Head coach Team captain AS Douanes Pabi Gueye Alkaly Ndour AS Salé Said El Bouzidi Zakaria El Masbahi AS Police Babacar Kanouté Badra Samaké FAP Lazare Adingono Ebaku Akumenzoh Ferroviário de Maputo Milagre Macome Custódio Muchate GNBC Lova Navalona Raharidera Francis Mory GS Pétroliers Sofiane Boulahia Mustapha Adrar Patriots Alan Major Aristide Mugabe Petro de Luanda José Neto Leonel Paulo Rivers Hoopers Ogoh Odaudu Belema Alamin US Monastir Mounir Ben Slimane Radhouane Slimane Zamalek Augustí Julbe Haytham Elsaharty
Foreign players In line with league rules, each BAL team was allowed to have four foreign players on its roster, including only two non-African players. Team Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 AS Douanes Chris Cokley Hassan Attia Mohamed Sadi AS Salé Ra'Shad James Terrell Stoglin Johndre Jefferson AS Police Ibrahima Thomas Jawachi Nzeakor Mylo Mitchell FAP Abdoulaye Harouna Marcus Thomas Matthew Hezekiah Ferroviário de Maputo Adjehi Baru Álvaro Calvo Masa Demarcus Holland Myck Kabongo GNBC Cameron Ridley GS Pétroliers Patriots Jermaine Cole Bush Wamukota Brandon Costner Petro de Luanda Ryan Richards Antwan Scott Rivers Hoopers Robinson Opong Chris Daniels Taren Sullivan US Monastir Ater Majok Wael Arakji Chris Crawford Zamalek Chinemelu Elonu Michael Fakuade Walter Hodge Mouloukou Diabate
Venues
On 1 August 2019, the NBA announced the seven host cities for the regular season. Six cities in six countries would host the regular season games, with three assigned to each conference. The Kigali Arena in Kigali, Rwanda was announced as venue for the inaugural Final Four. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, it was later decided that the entire event was to be played at the Kigali Arena. + Proposed venues of the inaugural BAL season before the format change Arena Capacity Location Dakar Arena Dakar, Senegal Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex Cairo, Egypt Salle El Bouâzzaoui Salé, Morocco Kilamba Arena Luanda, Angola Kigali Arena (Final Four) Kigali, Rwanda National Stadium Lagos, Nigeria Mohamed-Mzali Sports Hall Monastir, Tunisia
Schedule PhaseRoundDraw dateGamesQualifyingFirst round 9 October 2019 15 October – 3 November 2019Elite 1621 November 201926 November – 22 December 2019 Group phase29 March 2021 16–24 May 2021Playoffs Quarter-finals 26–27 May 2021 Semi-finals 29 May 2021 Final and third place 30 May 2021
Qualifying tournaments
In the qualifying rounds, 32 teams from 32 countries participated in the West and East Division. The first round began 15 October and ended 3 November 2019, with sixteen teams advancing to the second round. The second-round games began 26 November and will end 22 December 2019, with six teams qualifying for the regular season.
Rosters
Transactions
Group phase
The group phase began on 16 May 2021 and ended on 24 May 2021. Initially, it was planned that in the regular season, the twelve teams would play in two Conferences with six teams each. Each team would play five games, one against each opponent, inside its conference. The top three teams from each conference would advance to the Super 6. The regular season would be played in six arenas divided over the African continent.
The format was changed to a group phase as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was completely played at the Kigali Arena. In three groups of four each team plays the other one time and the first, second and best third-placed teams advance to the playoffs.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Ranking of third-placed teams
Playoffs
All eight qualified teams from the group stage were ranked and seeded to determine the match-ups. The play-offs games were played in a single-elimination format. The playoffs began on 26 May and ended on 30 May 2021 with the 2021 BAL Finals.
Bracket
Final standings Position Team Record 1 Zamalek 6–0 2 US Monastir 5–1 3 Petro de Luanda 5–1 4 Patriots 3–3 5 Ferroviário de Maputo 2–2 6 AS Salé 2–2 7 FAP 1–3 8 AS Douanes 1–3 9 Rivers Hoopers 1–2 10 AS Police 0–3 11 GS Pétroliers 0–3 12 GNBC 0–3
Awards Most Valuable Player: Walter Hodge (Zamalek) Defensive Player of the Year: Anas Mahmoud (Zamalek) Sportsmanship Award: Makrem Ben Romdhane (US Monastir) Ubuntu Award: Hicham Benayad-Cherif (GS Pétroliers) Scoring Champion: Terrell Stoglin (AS Salé) All-BAL First Team: Omar Abada (US Monastir) Walter Hodge (Zamalek) Wael Arakji (US Monastir) Makrem Ben Romdhane (US Monastir) Anas Mahmoud (Zamalek)
Statistics The following were the statistical leaders in 2021 BAL season.
Individual statistic leaders Category Player Team(s) Statistic Points per game Terrell Stoglin AS Salé 30.8 Rebounds per game Ibrahima Thomas AS Police 12.0 Assists per game Myck Kabongo Ferroviário de Maputo 6.8 Steals per game Bara Diop AS Douanes 2.5 Blocks per game Anas Mahmoud Zamalek 3.2 Turnovers per game Demarcus Holland Ferroviário de Maputo 4.3 Minutes per game 36.2 FG% Mohab YasserZamalek 69.7% 3P% Mouloukou Diabate Zamalek 59.1% FT% Kenny Gasana Patriots 94.1%
Individual game highs Category Player Team Statistic Points Terrell Stoglin AS Salé 40 Rebounds Jone Pedro Petro de Luanda 17 Ibrahima Thomas AS Police Assists Myck Kabongo Ferroviário de Maptuo 12 Steals Mokhtar Ghyaza US Monastir 5 Blocks Anas Mahmoud Zamalek 5 Three pointers Radhouane Slimane US Monastir 6 Aristide Mugabe Patriots
Team statistic leaders Category Team StatisticPoints per game US Monastir 89.9Rebounds per game FAP 42.0 Assists per game US Monastir 24.4 Steals per game 11.0Blocks per game Rivers Hoopers 5.3Turnovers per game GS Pétroliers 22.0Fouls per game 25.7 FG% Zamalek 49.9% FT% Ferroviário de Maputo 78.9% 3FG% US Monastir 36.1%
Controversies The BAL has faced criticism by The Guardian over its close ties with the Rwandan government in organising the league, using the league as a vehicle for sportswashing by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, pointing to ongoing repression and human rights abuses under his regime.
On May 10, 2021, American rapper J. Cole signed a contract with the Rwanda-based Patriots. In three games with the team, he scored five points, had three assists and five rebounds in 45 minutes of gameplay. Terrell Stoglin of AS Salé states about the signing: "For a guy who has so much money and has another career to just come here and average, like, one point a game and still get glorified is very disrespectful to the game. It's disrespectful to the ones who sacrificed their whole lives for this."
References