ABIDJAN (Côte d'Ivoire) - The Road to the BAL Tournament is entering its seventh season. Ahead of this year's edition, FIBA.basketball looks back at last year's events.
Participating teams
Twenty-two clubs from twenty-two African countries participated in the qualifying round for the 2026 Basketball Africa League (BAL) season. The list included both new and returning teams.
Club | Country |
|---|---|
Al Ahly Benghazi | Libya |
AS Douanes | Burkina Faso |
ASB New Generation | DR Congo |
Basket Hounds | Zimbabwe |
Bravehearts | Malawi |
Centre Reference Basket Tombouctou | Mali |
Centre Federal de Guinea | Guinea |
Dar City | Tanzania |
Djabal Club | Comoros |
Dolphins Basket Club | Botswana |
Elan Cotton | Benin |
Ferroviario da Beira | Mozambique |
Jeuness Club Abidjan (Kings) | Côte d'Ivoire |
Johannesburg Giants | South Africa |
Kriol Star | Cape Verde |
LPRC Oilers | Liberia |
Matero Magic | Zambia |
Moanda Basket | Gabon |
Nairobi City Thunder | Kenya |
Namuwongo Blazers | Uganda |
New Tech University Club | Central African Republic |
Spintex Knights | Ghana |
The host cities
For the first time in the history of the Road to BAL, a record seven cities from different parts of Africa hosted games of the tournament.
Kinshasa (Congo DR), Bamako (Mali), and Lusaka (Zambia) hosted the preliminary rounds of the BAL qualifying tournament for the first time.
Abidjan, which hosted the Elite 16 twice in 2023 and 2024, welcomed the early group-phase qualifiers.
Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) staged the preliminaries for a second time after hosting them in 2021 and 2022.
The Elite 16 then moved into its decisive stages, with Division West heading to Praia in Cape Verde.
Meanwhile, Division East returned to Nairobi, Kenya, where the East African capital first hosted the qualifiers in 2024.
Teams and individual performances
Last year, the Nairobi City Thunder gained automatic qualification to the Elite 16 East Division by defending their domestic league crown in the Road to BAL. They finished with a 4-0 record.
Albert Odero led the Thunder with 20.8 points per game, including a game-high 32 points in the semifinals against Ferroviario da Beira of Mozambique. Known as "Kenya Airways" in his country's basketball circles, Odero finished 7/7 inside the arc and 5/7 from three-point range.
South Africa's Johannesburg Giants had an impressive debut campaign. From the preliminary phase to the Elite 16 competition, the Giants won seven of their nine Road to BAL games.
Point guard Dhieu Deng, who joined the Giants during the Elite 16 phase, averaged 19.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in four games. The South Sudanese player had his best game in an 86-83 group stage loss to the Thunder, scoring 27 points, grabbing five rebounds, and making six assists.
Meanwhile, the West Division West saw the return of Al Ahly Benghazi, the first club from the Road to BAL to reach the 2024 BAL final.
Benghazi qualified with a third-place finish in the 2023 Road to BAL and improved significantly last year, finishing first by edging the Ivorian club JCA Kings 105–92.
American Marcos Knight averaged 18.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game, helping lead Al Ahly to a 7-0 record that year.
JCA finished with a 7-1 record. Point guard Jonathan Cisse averaged 17 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists. He had a game-high 27 points in the final loss to Al Ahly.
Dar City
Dar City became the first Tanzanian team to qualify for the BAL. They secured the fifth and final spot in the 2026 season, where they continued their impressive campaign by reaching the playoffs.
Upsets
The Johannesburg Giants' 71-69 upset victory over the star-studded Dar City team was the biggest surprise of the Road to BAL tournament.
Composed mostly of local players, the Giants overcame Dar City's Raphieal Putney, Solo Diabate, Youssou Ndoye, and Nisre Zouzoua with a lineup that included Pieter Prinsloo, Nino Dim, Joshua Ozabor, and Nkosinathi Sibanyoni.
Sibanyoni's dramatic block of an Ndoye attempt at the final second ensured the Giants' BAL debut.
How did the Road to BAL teams fare in the 2026 BAL?
Dar City had a notable debut in the BAL. After finishing fourth in the Kalahari Conference with a 3–2 record, the Tanzanian club stunned Petro de Luanda 88–82 in the first of two playoffs games before losing 83–69.
The Nairobi City Thunder performed better in their second BAL, also finishing 2–3. Unfortunately, they were edged out by Dar City (90–85) in the Kalahari Conference.
The Johannesburg Giants underperformed in the Kalahari Conference in Pretoria, South Africa. In front of their home fans, the Giants failed to win any of their five games.
The JCA Kings of Côte d'Ivoire missed the playoffs after losing all five of their Sahara Conference games.
Al Ahly Benghazi of Libya turned out to be the most successful Road to BAL team in the 2026 BAL season, finishing third.
FIBA