2024 BAL Kalahari Conference - PREVIEW

The wait is over as the Basketball Africa League (BAL) is set to return for its fourth consecutive season with a number of exciting new additions to its schedule.

In addition to the Nile and Sahara Conferences, the BAL Season 4 will tip off on Saturday, March 9 with the inaugural Kalahari Conference in Pretoria, South Africa.

Find below things to know about the Kalahari Conference.

It comprises Petro de Luanda from Angola, South Africa’s Cape Town Tigers, Burundi’s Dynamo Basketball Club and FUS Rabat from Morocco.

The four teams will face each other twice from March 9 to 17 at SunBet Arena in Pretoria.

And to remain in contention to the BAL’s much sought-after title, teams must finish in the top-two places of each conference or finish among the best two third-placed teams to qualify to the BAL Playoffs in May at BK Arena in Kigali.

But, how did the Kalahari Conference qualify to the BAL Season 4?

Unlike, Petro de Luanda, who secured their place in the BAL for a record fourth straight season by virtue of winning the Angolan League, Cape Town Tigers, Dynamo, FUS Rabat went through a FIBA-run qualifying process (Road to the BAL) to enter the continent’s clubs premier basketball competition. This makes the Kalahari Conference the only one with three teams from the Road to BAL.

CAPE TOWN TIGERS

The Tigers (5-0), who are making their third straight appearance in the league, had a perfect Road to the BAL Elite 16 campaign in the East Division, beating Dynamo, Pazi Basketball Club (Tanzania), NBA Academy Africa, COSPN (Madagascar), and City Oilers (Uganda).

DYNAMO BASKETBALL CLUB

Dynamo, meanwhile, faced a journey like no other to qualify to the BAL Season 4.

After finishing second in Dar es Salaam’s Group C behind hosts Pazi, the Burundian champions were awarded a wild card by FIBA Africa to complete the East Division Elite 16’s field.

In addition to their 2-1 mark from the preliminary round, Dynamo secured the last slot for the BAL Season 4 thanks to a nail-biting 79-78 win over COSPN in the East Division’s Third-Place Game.

In the process, Dynamo became the first Burundian side team to qualify to the BAL.

FUS RABAT

FUS Rabat (4-1) finished second in the West Division’s Elite 16 after losing to Bangui Sporting Club (Central African Republic) in the final, although they had beaten the Central African Republic champions in the Group Phase.

The Rabat-based side edged out ABC Fighters (Cote d’Ivoire), SLAC (Guinea) and FAP (Cameroon).

FUS Rabat are the second Moroccan side – since AS Salé - to qualify to the BAL.

TICKETS FOR THE KALAHARI CONFERENCE

Tickets for the Kalahari Conference group phase in Pretoria are on sale now at BAL.NBA.com, Ticketmaster.co.za (Pretoria). Single game tickets start at 75 ZAR for the Kalahari Conference group.