# 2019 FIBA Africa Basketball League

The 2019 FIBA Africa Basketball League was the 33nd edition of FIBA Africa's premier club Basketball tournament and the 1st under the new format and new name. The season saw an expansion from twelve to sixteen teams.
The season began on February 8, 2019, and ended on May 26, 2019, with the conclusion of the Final Four. The Final Four was hosted at the Kilamba Arena in Luanda, Angola.
It was the last season of the league as the competition was replaced by the Basketball Africa League (BAL), a new competition jointly established by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and FIBA.

## Competition format

FIBA Africa has increased the number of participating teams from twelve to sixteen. These teams get their ticket for the Africa Basketball League through regional qualifiers (Zone 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of FIBA Africa).
The qualifiers for the Africa Basketball League Group stage was held from September and until mid-December 2018, while the final phase will take place from January 11 to April 21, 2019, in various African cities.
The 16 teams qualified for the round of 16 will be divided into 4 groups of 4 teams each and the competition will take place in the form of a championship where each team will face respectively the 3 opponents of his group. Then, the first two clubs in each group will qualify for the Elite 8 where the clubs will be divided into four groups of two teams each and then games will be played in a home and away format. At this stage, the competition will be played in a one-way match against the principle of direct elimination. The Four winners will advance to the Final 4, that will be played on April 20 while the final take place the next day.

## Qualification tournament

| Zone | Qualified teams | Eliminated teams |
| Zone 1 | ES Radès AS Salé JS Kairouan | Wydad AC Al Ahly Tripoli Ittihad Tripoli |
| Zone 2 | SLAC | MBC USFAS Bamako |
| Zone 3 | Rivers Hoopers Civil Defenders Elan Sportif | Custom Braves Harbel Pointer AS Police |
| Zone 4 | BC Terreur ASB Mazembe | CAS 1987 Le Phoenix San Antonio Jet 7 CB |
| Zone 5 | Al Ahly, Smouha, REG | Ethiopia Water Wolekite City KPA Strathmore Patriots JKT Oilers |
| Zone 6 | Ferroviário da Beira, Primeiro de Agosto, Petro Luanda | Ferroviário de Maputo Bravehearts Central Knight Harare City Hornets Foxes |
| Zone 7 | COSPN | Premium Cobras Mahebourg Flippers Beau Vallon Heat |

## Teams

A total of 16 teams from 10 countries will contest the league.

### Venues and locations

| Team | Home city | Arena | Capacity |
| AS Salé | Salé | Salle El Bouâzzaoui | 2,000 |
| ES Radès | Tunis | Salle Taoufik-Bouhima | 3,500 |
| JS Kairouan | Kairouan | Salle Aziz Miled | 2,000 |
| SLAC | Conakry | Palais de Sport du Stade du 28 Septembre | – |
| Rivers Hoopers | Port Harcourt | Rivers State Basketball Complex | 2,000 |
| Civil Defenders | Abuja | Abuja Sports Hall | 3,000 |
| Elan Sportif | Porto-Novo | Hall des Arts Loisirs et Sports Boulevard Saint-Michel | – |
| BC Terreur | Kinshasa | Martyrs Sports Complex | 2,000 |
| BC Mazembe | Lubumbashi | | – |
| Al Ahly | Cairo | Al Ahly Sports Hall | 3,500 |
| Smouha | Alexandria | Ittihad Sports Arena | 2,000 |
| Ferroviário da Beira | Beira | Estádio do Ferroviário Indoor Hall | – |
| Primeiro de Agosto | Luanda | Pavilhão Victorino Cunha | 1,500 |
| Petro de Luanda | Luanda | Pavilhão da Cidadela | 6,873 |
| COSPN | Antananarivo | Palais des Sports Mahamasina | 7,090 |
| REG | Kigali | Amahoro Indoor Stadium | 2,500 |
* ↑ Despite being from Porto-Novo, Elan Sportif hosted the team games at the Hall des Arts Loisirs et Sports Boulevard Saint-Michel (H.A.L.S.) in Cotonou.

## Schedule

| Phase | Round | Draw date | Games |
| Group stage | Group stage | January 12, 2019 | February 8 – March 10, 2019 |
| Elite 8 | First leg | January 12, 2019 | March 22, 2019 |
| Elite 8 | Second leg | January 12, 2019 | April 14, 2019 |
| Final Four | Semi-finals | April 27, 2019 | May 24 and May 26, 2019 |
| Final Four | Final and third place | April 27, 2019 | May 24 and May 26, 2019 |

## Group stage

The draw was held in Abidjan on 12 January 2019.
The two teams with the best records for each group qualified to Elite 8.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | AS Salé (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 272 | 222 | +50 | 6 | Advance to Elite 8 |
| 2 | JS Kairouan | 3 | 2 | 1 | 241 | 212 | +29 | 5 | Advance to Elite 8 |
| 3 | Rivers Hoopers | 3 | 1 | 2 | 205 | 254 | −49 | 4 | |
| 4 | SLAC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 233 | 263 | −30 | 3 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | ES Radès | 3 | 3 | 0 | 236 | 187 | +49 | 6 | Advance to Elite 8 |
| 2 | Civil Defenders | 3 | 2 | 1 | 209 | 213 | −4 | 5 | Advance to Elite 8 |
| 3 | Élan Sportif (H) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 193 | 207 | −14 | 4 | |
| 4 | Terreur | 3 | 0 | 3 | 185 | 216 | −31 | 3 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Primeiro de Agosto | 3 | 3 | 0 | 243 | 196 | +47 | 6 | Advance to Elite 8 |
| 2 | Al Ahly (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 241 | 239 | +2 | 5 | Advance to Elite 8 |
| 3 | REG | 3 | 1 | 2 | 226 | 225 | +1 | 4 | |
| 4 | Ferroviário da Beira | 3 | 0 | 3 | 209 | 259 | −50 | 3 | |

### Group D

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Smouha | 3 | 3 | 0 | 276 | 177 | +99 | 6 | Advance to Elite 8 |
| 2 | Petro de Luanda | 3 | 2 | 1 | 235 | 216 | +19 | 5 | Advance to Elite 8 |
| 3 | ASB Mazembe | 3 | 1 | 2 | 220 | 222 | −2 | 4 | |
| 4 | COSPN (H) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 196 | 312 | −116 | 3 | |

## Knockout phase
### Bracket

| Elite 8 | Elite 8 | Elite 8 | Elite 8 | Final four | Final four | Final four | Final four | Final | Final | Final | Final |
| AS Salé | 69 | 96 | 165 | | | | |
| Civil Defenders | 69 | 77 | 146 | | | | |
| Civil Defenders | 69 | 77 | 146 | AS Salé | AS Salé | AS Salé | 81 |
| | | | | JS Kairouan | JS Kairouan | JS Kairouan | 73 |
| ES Radès | 67 | 73 | 140 | JS Kairouan | JS Kairouan | JS Kairouan | 73 |
| JS Kairouan | 68 | 74 | 142 | | | | | | | | |
| JS Kairouan | 68 | 74 | 142 | | | | | AS Salé | AS Salé | AS Salé | 71 |
| | | | | | | | | Primeiro de Agosto | Primeiro de Agosto | Primeiro de Agosto | 83 |
| Primeiro de Agosto | 70 | 74 | 144 | | | | | Primeiro de Agosto | Primeiro de Agosto | Primeiro de Agosto | 83 |
| Petro | 57 | 57 | 114 | | | | | | | | |
| Petro | 57 | 57 | 114 | Primeiro de Agosto | Primeiro de Agosto | Primeiro de Agosto | 86 | | | | |
| | | | | Smouha | Smouha | Smouha | 76 | Third place | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| Al Ahly | 82 | 88 | 170 | Smouha | Smouha | Smouha | 76 | Third place | Third place | Third place | Third place |
| Smouha | 91 | 88 | 179 | | | | | | | | |
| Smouha | 91 | 88 | 179 | | | | | JS Kairouan | JS Kairouan | JS Kairouan | 58 |
| | | | | | | | | Smouha | Smouha | Smouha | 69 |

### Elite 8

The Elite 8 games were played in a home and away basis from March 22, to April 14, 2019.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Civil Defenders | 146–165 | AS Salé | 69–69 | 77–96 |
| JS Kairouan | 142–140 | ES Radès | 68–67 | 74–73 |
| Petro de Luanda | 114–144 | Primeiro de Agosto | 57–70 | 57–74 |
| Smouha | 179–163 | Al Ahly | 91–82 | 88–81 |

### Final Four

On 19 April 2019, the Kilamba Arena in Luanda, Angola was announced as host of the Final Four. The draw was held on 27 April 2019 in Abidjan.

#### Final
## Awards

The individual awards were announced on May 26, after the conclusion of the final.
* Most Valuable Player: Eduardo Mingas (Primeiro de Agosto)
* All-Star Team:
** Eduardo Mingas (Primeiro de Agosto)
** Soufiane Kourdou (AS Salé)
** Manny Quezada (Primerio de Agosto)
** Abderrahim Najah (AS Salé)
** James Justice Jr. (Smouha)

## Statistics

Statistics as of the ending of the season.

### Individual statistical leaders

| Category | Player | Team(s) | Statistic |
| Efficiency per game | Maodo Nguirane | JS Kairouan | 21.7 |
| Points per game | Reggie Holmes | Al Ahly | 20.2 |
| Rebounds per game | Todd O'Brien | Al Ahly | 14.0 |
| Assists per game | Ahmed Dhif | JS Kairouan | 5.7 |
| Steals per game | Reggie Holmes | Al Ahly | 2.6 |
| Blocks per game | Mohamed Choua | AS Salé | 2.0 |
| Turnovers per game | James Justice Jr. | Smouha | 3.0 |
| Minutes per game | James Justice Jr. | Smouha | 34.1 |
| FG% | Augustine Okosun | Smouha | 59.0% |
| 3P% | Ahmed Azab Farag | Smouha | 60.0% |
| Double-doubles | Maodo Nguirane | JS Kairouan | 4 |
| Double-doubles | Todd O'Brien | Al Ahly | 4 |

### Individual game highs

| Category | Player | Team(s) | Statistic |
| Efficiency | Eduardo Mingas | Primeiro de Agosto | 35 |
| Efficiency | Abderrahim Najah | AS Salé | 35 |
| Points | Manny Quezada | Primeiro de Agosto | 36 |
| Rebounds | Aubin Junior Kasongo | BC Mazembe | 23 |
| Assists | Yassine El Mahsini | AS Salé | 13 |
| Steals | Carlos Cabral | Primeiro de Agosto | 8 |
| Blocks | Nick West | ES Radès | 5 |
| Turnovers | Engelbert Beleck | REG | 8 |
| 2-point field goals | Elhadji Mbodji | ES Radès | 12 |
| 3-point field goals | Reggie Holmes | Al Ahly | 7 |