An insider's look into the 2025 BAL semi-finalists

Four teams have been eliminated from the 2025 BAL Playoffs, leaving four remaining.

On Wednesday, APR will face Al Ahli Tripoli in the first semifinal. APR lost to Al Ahli Tripoli twice in the 2025 Nile Conference.

In the second semifinal, the reigning champions, Petro de Luanda, will go up against Al Itthiad Alexandria.

Except for Petro de Luanda, the other three teams are making their debut in the BAL semifinals.

This article examines the unique characteristics of each semifinalist.

Al Ahli Tripoli (7-1)

Al Ahli Tripoli, the winners of the 2025 Nile Conference held in Kigali, Rwanda, is the only team among the four semifinalists that qualified for this BAL season through the FIBA-run Road to BAL qualifiers. The other three teams automatically qualified by winning their domestic leagues.

Al Ahli Tripoli is the second Libyan team to reach the BAL semifinals since last year's runners-up, Al Ahly Libya.

Al Ahli Tripoli is one of two teams to finish the conference round undefeated. The team has five Libyan national players on its roster, some of whom are potential picks for the 2025 AfroBasket, which will be held in Angola in August. Al Ahli Tripoli head coach Fouad Abou Chacra is also the head coach of the Libyan national team.

The team holds a BAL record for the most points scored in a game, set in a 115–87 win against Nairobi City on May 18 in Kigali, Rwanda.

Al Ittihad Alexandria (8-0)

Except for Zamalek, who won the inaugural BAL season with a perfect 6-0 record, no team in the league's history has ever reached the Last Four undefeated. This makes Al Ittihad Alexandria an exception.

Another unique feat of the Egyptian giants is that they are the only BAL debutant since the implementation of the conference system in 2022 to have ten national team players, including three from South Sudan, the No. 1 ranked team in Africa according to the FIBA World Rankings.

Al Ittihad Alexandria head coach Omar Soliman is the only former Olympian (Seoul 1988) among the semifinalists' head coaches, though Al Ahli Tripoli assistant coach Rzig Amine played in the 2012 London Olympics as Tunisia's captain.

APR (5-3)

APR is the second Rwandan team since the Patriots Basketball team in 2021 to reach the BAL semifinals.

The Rwandan champions lost twice to Al Ahli Tripoli in the Nile Conference.

APR is the only team with a former NBA player and coach on its coaching staff. Sam Vincent joined APR after leading MBB in the Nile Conference in May.

The APR duo of Nuni Omot and Aliou Diarra were both named to the 2023 All-BAL First Team. Omot won the MVP award, and Diarra won the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year award.

Petro de Luanda (4-4)

The Angolan champions have reached the Basketball Africa League (BAL) semifinals for a record fifth time.

Petro de Luanda holds the record for the most games played in the BAL, at 38.

Last season, Petro de Luanda reached the semifinals with an even record (3-3) before finishing 5-3.