Joe Apu
Seven cities, Lagos (Nigeria), Cairo (Egypt), Dakar (Senegal), Luanda (Angola), Rabat (Morocco) and either Monastir or Tunis (Tunisia) have been announced as host cities for the inaugural Basketball Africa League (BAL) regular season while Kigali (Rwanda) will host the first-ever BAL Final Four and BAL Final.
According to a release from FIBA Africa, NIKE and Jordan Brands would be the exclusive kits of the new professional league featuring 12 club teams from across Africa and scheduled to begin play in March 2020.
The announcements were made by BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall during a reception at the Musée des Civilisations Noires in Dakar in the presence of FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis, FIBA Africa Executive Director Alphonse Bilé, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, along with current and former NBA and WNBA players.
“Today’s announcements mark another important milestone as we head into what will be a historic first season for the Basketball Africa League,” said Fall. “We now have seven great host cities where we will play and our first partnership with a world-class outfitter. We thank our first partners NIKE and Jordan Brand for supporting us on this journey and ensuring our teams have the best uniforms and on court products.”