# 2025 BAL season

The 2025 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 5, will be the 5th season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season will begin on 5 April and end on 14 June 2024 with the final. The playoffs and finals will be held in Pretoria, South Africa, for the first time.
Petro de Luanda are the defending champions, having won the previous season. The winners will earn the right to play in the 2025 FIBA Intercontinental Cup.

## Venues

The Moroccan Royal Basketball Federation (FRMBB) announced on 12 November 2024 that Rabat would be one of the host cities of the first phase of the 2025 season.
On 21 November 2024, the BAL announced that the group phase would be hosted in three countries, as the Nile Conference is hosted at the Salle Moulay Abdellah in Rabat, Morocco, the Sahara Conference in Dakar Arena, Dakar, Senegal, and the Kalahari Conference in the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda. The playoffs and final will be played in the SunBet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.

## Qualification

The number of directly qualified teams changed from the previous four seasons, as the BAL now allocated eight direct slots to designated leagues and markets. As such, the champions of Morocco were given a direct spot in the tournament, while only five teams would qualify through the Road to BAL. FIBA Africa had reported that the champions of South Africa received direct qualification, however, on 21 November 2025, the BAL announced that no direct spot was allocated.

## Teams

The defending champions Petro de Luanda were the first team to qualify, as they won the 2023–24 Angolan Basketball League on 12 May 2024 to qualify for a record-extending fifth season in a row. Al Ittihad Alexandria will make its debut, becoming the third Egyptian club to play in the league and it is the greatest Egyptian basketball club in history. ASCVD became the third Senegalese club to qualify following their Nationale 1 title. MBB from South Africa was announced on 12 January 2025 as the last representative, after they were given a wild card.
The season had six debuting teams, setting a new record.

### Method of qualification and statistics

| Team | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | App. | Previous year | Cons. | Best performance |
| Petro de Luanda | 2023–24 Angolan Basketball League champions | 12 May 2024 | 5th | 2024 | 5 | Champions (2024) |
| Al Ittihad Alexandria | 2023–24 Egyptian Basketball Premier League champions | 13 June 2024 | 1st | — | 1 | — |
| US Monastir | 2023–24 Championnat Pro A champions | 27 June 2024 | 5th | 2024 | 5 | Champions (2022) |
| ASCVD | 2024 Nationale 1 champions | 27 June 2024 | 1st | — | 1 | — |
| APR | 2024 RBL season champions | 23 September 2024 | 2nd | 2024 | 2 | Group stage (2024) |
| Rivers Hoopers | 2024 NBBF Premier League champions | 19 November 2024 | 3rd | 2024 | 2 | Third Place (2024) |
| FUS Rabat | 2023–24 Division Excellence champions | 10 July 2024 | 2nd | 2024 | 2 | Quarterfinalist (2024) |
| Al Ahli Tripoli | Road to BAL West Division winners | 9 November 2024 | 1st | — | 1 | — |
| Stade Malien | Road to BAL West Division runners-up | 9 November 2024 | 2nd | — | 2 | Third Place (2023) |
| Kriol Star | Road to BAL East Division finalist | 2 December 2024 | 1st | — | 1 | — |
| Nairobi City Thunder | Road to BAL East Division finalist | 2 December 2024 | 1st | — | 1 | — |
| MBB | Wild card | 12 January 2025 | 1st | — | 1 | — |

### Personnel

| Team | Head coach | Captain |
| Al Ahli Tripoli | Fouad Chakra | |
| Al Ittihad Alexandria | Ahmed Omar | Ahmed El Sabbagh |
| ASCVD | Libasse Faye | |
| APR | | |
| FUS Rabat | | |
| Kriol Star | Hugo Salgado | Joel Almeida |
| MBB | Sam Vincent | |
| Nairobi City Thunder | Brad Ibs | Tylor Ongwae |
| Petro de Luanda | Sergio Valdeolmillos | Childe Dundão |
| Rivers Hoopers | Ogoh Odaudu | |
| Stade Malien | Boubacar Kanouté | |
| US Monastir | Mohamed Kerdani | Mokhtar Ghyaza |

## Pre-season

As the champions of the 2024 BAL season, Petro de Luanda played in the 2024 FIBA Intercontinental Cup in September 2024. They finished in fifth place.

## Schedule

The full schedule for the season was officially released on 21 November 2024.
| Phase | Round | Games |
| Qualifying rounds (Road to BAL) | First Round | 8 October – 1 November 2024 |
| Qualifying rounds (Road to BAL) | Elite 16 | 5 November – 3 December 2024 |
| Group phase | Nile Conference | 5 – 13 April 2025 |
| Group phase | Sahara Conference | 26 April – 5 May 2025 |
| Group phase | Kalahari Conference | 17 – 25 May 2025 |
| Seeding games | Seeding games | 6 –14 June 2025 |
| Playoffs | Quarter-finals | 6 –14 June 2025 |
| Playoffs | Semi-finals | 6 –14 June 2025 |
| Playoffs | Final and third place | 6 –14 June 2025 |

## Group phase

The group phase is played between 5 April and 25 May 2024. The twelve teams of the group phase are allocated into three conferences. The BAL announced the official schedule on 28 February 2025.

### Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams in the regular season was determined as follows:
* Win-loss record;
* Head-to-head record;
* Point differential in the games between the respective teams;
* Number of points scored in the games between the respective teams;
* Average point differential in all games against other teams in the Conference;
* Average number of points scored in all games played against other teams in the Conference;
* Drawing.

### Nile Conference

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | PCT | Qualification | FUS | BBB | CCC | DDD |
| 1 | FUS Rabat (H) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Advance to playoffs | — | | | |
| 2 | Stade Malien | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Advance to playoffs | | — | | |
| 3 | Rivers Hoopers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Possibly advance to the playoffs | | | — | |
| 4 | Al Ittihad Alexandria | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | | | | | — |

### Sahara Conference

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | PCT | Qualification | AVD | BBB | CCC | DDD |
| 1 | ASCVD (H) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Advance to playoffs | — | | | |
| 2 | Kriol Star | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Advance to playoffs | | — | | |
| 3 | Petro de Luanda | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Possibly advance to the playoffs | | | — | |
| 4 | US Monastir | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | | | | | — |

### Kalahari Conference

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | GF | GA | GD | PCT | Qualification | APR | BBB | CCC | DDD |
| 1 | APR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Advance to playoffs | — | | | |
| 2 | MBB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Advance to playoffs | | — | | |
| 3 | Al Ahli Tripoli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Possibly advance to the playoffs | | | — | |
| 4 | Nairobi City Thunder | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | | | | | — |

### Ranking of third-placed teams

| Pos | Grp | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | PCT | Qualification |
| 1 | Sahara | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Advance to playoffs |
| 2 | Kalahari | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | Advance to playoffs |
| 3 | Nile | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |