ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - The race for a place in the second edition of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) gets underway on Thursday with the first two games of Group F of the Qualifying Round taking place in Johannesburg. 

The BAL Qualifiers, dubbed, Road to BAL 2022, will see a total of 24 teams doing battle for the right to secure the remaining six slots for the 12-team Final Round of the BAL. Six teams - from Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia - have automatic entry to the BAL.

The 24-team Road to BAL 2022 is split into six groups with 12 teams competing in the West Division, and 12 teams drawn in the East Division.

Egypt's Zamalek won the first edition of the BAL in May 2021 in Kigali, Rwanda

Groups A and B will take place in Conakry (29-31 October); Cameroon's capital city of Yaounde will play home to Group C (29-31 October), and Dar es Salaam will be host Groups D and E (29-31 October).

In order to join the champions of Angola, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia and a host team from Rwanda, in the Final Round, the 24 Road to BAL teams will play three games each in the Group Phase from October 21-29. And The teams that finish in the top two places from each group and four other teams will be awarded wild cards to compete in Elite 16 Round to be played in November and December.

The champion of Morocco will enter the Elite 16 Round automatically.

In the first games of the Road to BAL 2022, the first four teams to take to the floor will be South Africa's Cape Town Tigers, Mozambique champions Ferroviario da Beira, Zambia's Matero Magic and Mauritius' Roche-Bois Warriors who will compete from October 21-23.  Zimbabwe's Mercenaries Basketball pulled out of the Qualifiers. 

Games will be streamed live on FIBA's Youtube Channel, with additional updates on the tournament's website and FIBA's social media platforms. 

WEST DIVISION

Group A (29-31 October in Conakry)
AS Police (Mali)
Boufarik (Algeria)
Predio Basketball (Cape Verde)
S.L.A.C (Guinea)

Group B (29-31 October in Conakry)
Academie D'or des Arches (Burkina Faso)
ASPAC (Benin)
AS Nigelec (Niger)
Societe Omnisport de L'Armee (Cote d'Ivoire)

Group C (29-31 October in Yaounde)
C.B. Mazembe (DR Congo)
F.A.P (Cameroon)
Malabo Kings (Equatorial Guinea)
Tondema (Central African Republic)

EAST DIVISION

Group D (29-31 October in Dar es Salaam):
ASCUT (Madagascar)
Cobra Sport (South Sudan)
Hawassa City (Ethiopia)
Ulinzi Warriors (Kenya)

Group E (29-31 October in Dar es Salaam):
Brave Hearts (Malawi)
City Oilers (Uganda)
Kurasini Heat (Tanzania)
New Stars (Burundi)

Group E (21-23 October in Johannesburg):
Cape Town Tigers (South Africa)
Ferroviario da Beira (Mozambique)
Matero Magic (Zambia)
Roche Bois Warriors (Mauritius)

FIBA