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- The BAL was replacing the FIBA Africa Basketball League - formerly also known as the FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup - as the continent's premier league. The idea for the BAL was to have a top-flight professional league in Africa to give a platform for elite players to showcase their talent and inspire more young boys and girls to play the game.
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Mar 29, 2024 · Now, with the fourth season underway, the BAL is already seeing the fruits of its labor and expanding. 12 club teams across 12 African countries will play a record 48 games for the first time...
Mar 10, 2023 · Fall, who helped set up the BAL project, believes the first two editions have already had a tremendous impact on basketball culture in Africa. "Teams in general are working hard to get...
Apr 9, 2024 · Fast forward 14 years later, and the rise of basketball across Africa has created a self-sustaining industry that can be relied upon as a locomotive to promote several positive causes, from empowerment to justice, to the promotion of health and equity – the BAL now stands as beacon for nearly 50 years of work that the NBA has done to plant ...
Jul 1, 2022 · BAL is a joint project between the NBA and Fiba, basketball’s world governing body, that hopes to tap into a market with a huge, tech-savvy and youthful population, while also giving African...
- An Unparalleled Opportunity
- Developmental Impact
- A Sector Ripe For Investment
- People-To-People Ties
- Room For Growth
- Hopes For The League
- Further Reading
Dr. Houda Jorio, spokesperson for Moroccan BAL team AS Salé, describes the BAL as “the greatest opportunity a Moroccan team has ever seen.” Reflecting on the team’s rise to prominence, she attributes the turning point to the team’s first taste of international competition in Dubai over a decade ago. Despite only getting into that tournament after a...
The passion and buzz surrounding the league extends well beyond the confines of basketball. Pabi Gueye, coach of Senegal’s BAL team AS Douanes, describes the BAL as “an important vector of development,” and in a powerful acknowledgement of the league’s potential for impact, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has been announcedas an officia...
Discussion of the African sports sector’s developmental impact must also take into account the economic growth and employment potential, which make the sector ripe for investment. The global sports industry has surpassed $500 billion annually, according to a report by Research and Markets, and emerging markets lead the sector’s robust growth. With ...
The developmental and economic draws of the BAL are also complemented by an opportunity to build people-to-people ties through sport, both between African countries and between Africa and the United States. The BAL itself is effectively a product of US-Africa basketball linkages and the culmination of growing engagement, including the NBA Academy A...
While the league’s potential and merits are clear, it is worth stressing that the ecosystem will not change overnight. Progress will be step by step, according to stakeholders, and key areas for growth remain. A recent surveyby the African Sports & Creative Institute found that a vast majority of industry stakeholders noted the sector as “underdeve...
So while the BAL cannot be expected to revolutionize Africa’s sports ecosystem all at once, it can be a jolt that elevates African basketball, offers a developmental success story, and convinces investors of the vibrancy of African sports and creative industries. But a jolt is good for nothing if momentum is not maintained. Thus, it is telling that...
Image: Action between Rwanda's Patriots Basketball Club and Madagascar's GNBC in the Basketball Africa League qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda in December 2019. (Flickr/Paul Kagame).
May 14, 2021 · And the NBA ambassador believes BAL can boost African teams' fortunes at both world championships and Olympic Games, where the continent's top sides have often struggled to make an impact.
Dec 21, 2021 · The BAL marks the first collaboration with the NBA to operate a professional league outside of North America, truly showcasing the level of potential the continent has to become one of the...
