The qualification tournaments for the 2022 BAL season, also known as the Road to BAL 2022, were the qualification rounds for the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The tournaments began on 19 October 2021 and ended 16 December 2021. Similar to the first season, the competition consisted out of two stages: the first round and the elite 16. Six teams advanced to the group phase of the BAL.
Teams On 13 October 2021, FIBA announced the 26 teams from 26 countries which participate in the qualification round. 1st, 2nd, etc.: ranking in national leagues CW: Cup winner First roundWest DivisionEast Division ASPAC (1st) SOA (1st) New Star (1st) City Oilers (1st) Espoir Fukash (1st) SLAC (1st) Kurasini Heat (1st) Cobra Sport (1st) AS Police (1st) Tondema (1st) Roche-Bois Warriors (1st) Matero Magic (1st) FAP (1st) Nigelec Brave Hearts (1st) Cape Town Tigers (1st) Ulinzi Warriors (1st) Ferroviário da Beira (1st) Notes
Withdrawing teams Six teams were drawn in a group for the first round, but withdrew prior to the start of the games. Group AGroup BGroup CGroup DGroup EGroup F WA Boufarik Prédio AOA ASCUT Hawassa City Mercenaries
First round The first two teams of each group advance to the elite 16 and two wild cards were given to teams from each division.
West Division Group A Initially, four teams were drawn in Group A, which was played in Conakry, Guinea. However, Prédio and WA Boufarik failed to travel to Conakry. <onlyinclude> 29 October 2021 SLAC 95–93 AS Police31 October 2021 AS Police 80–72 SLAC
Group B Venue: Conakry, Guinea <onlyinclude> 29 October 2021 SOA 64–51 Nigelec30 October 2021 ASPAC 40–60 SOA31 October 2021 Nigelec 65–35 ASPAC
Group C Group C was hosted in Yaoundé, Cameroon. FAP, who play in the 2021 regular season, returned while Tondema and Espoir Fukash made their debuts in the competition. Malabo Kings forfeited the last day. <onlyinclude> 29 October 2021 FAP 82–57 Tondema30 October 2021 Tondema 49–102 Espoir Fukash31 October 2021 FAP 84–65 Espoir Fukash
East Division Because Hawassa City and ASCUT of Group D withdrew, the groups were divided again. New Star was moved to Group D.
Group D Venue: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania <onlyinclude> 29 October 2021 New Star 67–46 Cobra Sport30 October 2021 Ulinzi Warriors 72–80 New Star31 October 2021 Cobra Sport 47–53 Ulinzi Warriors
Group E All times are GMT+3.
Venue: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania <onlyinclude>
Group F The venue of Group F was the Inzibio Hall in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Five teams were placed in this group, however, Mercenaries pulled out before the start. The Cape Town Tigers and Roche-Bois Warriors made their debut in the international level. The Group featured two former NBA players in Ben Uzoh and Billy Preston, who both played with Cape Town. <onlyinclude> 21 October 2021 Cape Town Tigers 81–51 Matero Magic Ferroviário da Beira 116–49 Roche-Bois Warriors22 October 2021 Roche-Bois Warriors 36–132 Ferroviário da Beira Matero Magic 77–83 Cape Town Tigers23 October 2021 Matero Magic 95–43 Roche-Bois Warriors Cape Town Tigers 86–85 Ferroviário da Beira
Elite 16 In the elite 16, two groups of eight teams were created consisting of the top two teams and wild cards of the first round. AS Salé, as the national champions of Morocco, directly enters this stage. Competition began on 2 December 2021 (Division East) in Johannesburg and 11 December 2021 (Division West) in Yaounde. The top three teams from each group advance to the 2022 BAL season.
On 20 November 2021, the draw was held in Abidjan. On 11 December, FIBA announced ASPAC had withdrawn and AS Salé was not available.
Division West Group G1
11 December 2021 SOA 64–83 FAP12 December 2021 AS Police 85–70 SOA13 December 2021 FAP 74–66 AS Police
Group G2
11 December 2021 Nigelec 104–91 Espoir Fukash12 December 2021 Espoir Fukash 104–89 SLAC13 December 2021 SLAC 82–54 Nigelec
Final stage
Semi-finals
Third place game
Final
Division East The Division East games were played from 6 December until 11 December at the Wembley Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Group H1
6 December 2021 New Star 83–71 Cape Town Tigers7 December 2021 Matero Magic 70–78 New Star8 December 2021 Cape Town Tigers 79–63 Matero Magic
Group H2
6 December 2021 Ferroviário da Beira 76–46 Cobra Sport7 December 2021 Cobra Sport 77–67 Ulinzi Warriors8 December 2021 Ferroviário da Beira 81–59 Ulinzi Warriors
Final stage
Semi-finals
Third place game The third place game was supposed to be played on 11 December 2021, however, the game was cancelled after six players tested positive on COVID-19 hours before the tip-off. It was a later announced that Cape Town qualified as New Star was forced to forfeit.
Final
Statistics The following were the statistical leaders in the qualification games.
Individual statistic leaders Category Player Team(s) Statistic Played Efficiency per game Benke Diarouma AS Police 24.5 4 Points per game Rolly Fula Nganga Espoir Fukash 19.8 6 Rebounds per game Benke Diarouma AS Police 14.0 4 Assists per game Tom Wamukota Cobra Sport 5.3 4 Steals per game 3.3 Blocks per game Ibrahima Diallo AS Police 2.8 4 Turnovers per game Arsène Mwana Mwamba Espoir Fukash 4.0 6 Minutes per game Dane Miller Jr. SLAC 36.2 4 FG% Jermelle Kennedy Ferroviário da Beira 56.7% 7 3P% Joel Almeida FAP 80.0% 4 FT% Landry Ndikumana New Star 71.4% 5 Double-doubles Billy Preston Cape Town Tigers 3 5Landry Ndikumana New Star 5
Individual game highs Category Player Team Statistic Efficiency Benke Diarouma AS Police 39 Points Álvaro Calvo Masa New Star 33 Rebounds Benke Diarouma AS Police 21 Assists Micheal Afuwape AS Nigelec 11 Steals Jermelle Kennedy Ferroviário da Beira 7 Micheal Afuwape AS Nigelec Blocks Four players – 5 Three pointers Dieudonné Ndizeye Cobra Sport 7 Timothy Terna Kwaor AS Nigelec
Notes
References