The Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2025 season kicked off on April 5 with games taking place in Rabat, Morocco for the first time.
The fifth season of the league, organised by the NBA in collaboration with FIBA, will feature top club teams from 12 African countries. They will be playing 48 games in four different locations across the continent.
The 12 teams will compete across three conferences – Kalahari, Sahara, and Nile. Each four-team conference will play a 12-game group phase during which each team will face the other three teams in its conference in a double round robin format.
The top eight teams from across the conferences after the group phase will qualify for four seeding games followed by an eight-game, single-elimination playoffs- to be held in South Africa.
The finals will then take place from 6-14 June.
The league has also announced that it will honour NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo throughout the season. They will do so by including a “DM55” patch on all player jerseys and select warm-up gear, as well as moments of silence ahead of each conference group phase.
The late four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer served as the NBA’s first global ambassador following his retirement in 2009.
Basketball Africa League 2025: Participating teams
Sahara Conference
- ASC Ville de Dakar (Senegal)
- Petro de Luanda (Angola)
- Kriol Star Basketball (Cape Verde)
- US Monastir (Tunisia)
Kalahari Conference
- Fath Union Sport (FUS; Morocco)
- Al Ittihad (Egypt)
- Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria)
- Stade Malien Basketball Club (Mali)
Nile Conference
- Armée Patriotique Rwandaise Basketball (APR; Rwanda)
- Al Ahli Tripoli (Libya)
- Nairobi City Thunder (Kenya)
- Made by Basketball (MBB; South Africa)
Basketball Africa League 2025: Schedule
- Kalahari Conference – Rabat, Morocco – April 5-13
- Sahara Conference – Dakar, Senegal – April 26 – May 4
- Nile Conference – Kigali, Rwanda – May 17-25
- Playoffs and finals – Pretoria, South Africa – June 6-14
Kalahari Conference Fixtures
| Date | Time (ET) | Matchup |
| April 5 | 12 p.m. | Rivers Hoopers vs. Stade Malien |
| April 5 | 3 p.m. | Fus de Rabat vs. Al Ittihad |
| April 6 | 11 a.m. | Stade Malien vs. Al Ittihad |
| April 6 | 2 p.m. | Rivers Hoopers vs. Fus de Rabat |
| April 8 | 12 p.m. | Rivers Hoopers vs. Al Ittihad |
| April 8 | 3 p.m. | Fus de Rabat vs. Stade Malien |
| April 10 | 12 p.m. | Al Ittihad vs. Stade Malien |
| April 10 | 3 p.m. | Fus de Rabat vs. Rivers Hoopers |
| April 12 | 11 a.m. | Al Ittihad vs. Rivers Hoopers |
| April 12 | 2 p.m. | Stade Malien vs. Fus de Rabat |
| April 13 | 11 a.m. | Rivers Hoopers vs. Stade Malien |
| April 13 | 2 p.m. | Al Ittihad vs. Fus de Rabat |
Also Read: Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame: Class Of 2025 Inductees Ft. Beijing Olympics USA Team
Basketball Africa League 2025:Where to watch, Streaming Details
Fans across the globe will be able to watch the league on the television networks.
| Broadcast Partner | Region/Target Audience |
| African Union of Broadcasting | Africa |
| American Forces Network (AFN) | Military personnel and their families (Global) |
| Canal+ | Europe (primarily French-speaking regions) |
| ESPN | North America, International coverage |
| FIBA’s Courtside 1891 | Global (Digital streaming platform) |
| NBA TV | North America, Global via cable/satellite |
| Ninety Media Services | (Specific region or platform unclear) |
| SNRT | Morocco (and other North African regions) |
| Tencent Sports | China and other Asian regions |
| TV5 Monde | Global (French-speaking regions) |
All the games from the league will also be available to stream live on the NBA App, NBA.com, BAL YouTube and TheBAL.com.
