BAL 2025 Nile conference preview: teams heading to Rwanda

For the first time, Rwanda is going to host one of the three BAL conferences, the Nile Conference, which will comprise the Libyan club Al Ahli Tripoli, Made by Basketball (South Africa), Nairobi City Thunders (Kenya), and the host, Armee Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) from May 17 to 25, to play a 12-game group phase. During this phase, each team will face the other three teams in its conference twice.

So far in the Sahara Conference, the 2024 BAL title defender Petro de Luanda, the second edition champion US Monastir, and Cape Verde's Kriol Stars have sealed their spots in June's playoffs. Meanwhile, in the Kalahari Conference, both Al Ittihad and Rivers Hoopers have qualified as the top two teams.

The four teams that include APR in the Nile Conference will fight to determine the remaining three clubs that will complete the eight teams from across the three conferences. These eight teams will travel to Pretoria for four seeding games followed by an eight-game, single-elimination Playoffs and Finals from Friday, June 6 to 14, hosted in South Africa at the SunBet Arena.

Ballerzone Africa is going to delve into those 3 other clubs in the Nile Conference to help you understand which conference the Rwandan club is in:

Al Ahli Tripoli (Libya)

Known locally as the "club for the people," Al Ahli Tripoli Sport Club was founded in 1950.

It was the first Libyan club to participate in the fourth edition of the BAL. The club had a successful run, finishing as runners-up after being defeated by Petro de Luanda in the final game of the playoffs by 94-107 in their first appearance at the 2024 BAL.

The Tripoli squad included experienced players such as the shooting guard Mohamed Sadi, the Nigerian power forward Michael Eric, the American small forward Tevin Mack, Walter Hodge (who inspired Zamalek to the 2021 BAL title and also claimed the tournament's Most Valuable Player (MVP)), American Kevin Murphy (who featured for Al Ahli Benghazi in BAL Season 4), Canadian-Nigerian Kelvin Amayo (a two-time BAL participant with Stade Malien and Rivers Hoopers), South Sudanese Deng Angok Yak Deng, and British Kavel Chevano Bigby-Williams.

Made by Basketball (South Africa)

They secured their spot after winning the South African championship, earning a wild card into the BAL. This will be the first time a South African team has played in the BAL at this stage of the competition.

According to ESPN, the Johannesburg-based team will go to the BAL with 1986 NBA champion Sam Vincent as head coach. He coached the South African men's national team to ninth place at the 2003 FIBA Africa Championship – their joint-best ever showing at AfroBasket. Vincent has also coached the Nigeria men's and women's national teams and was an assistant coach for the NBA team, Dallas Mavericks.

Nairobi City Thunders (Kenya)

The Kenyan club booked their ticket to BAL 2025 from the East Division Elite 16 after surviving a late rally by Uganda's City Oilers to win 72-62.

It is also among the debutants of the fifth edition of the BAL. Key players to watch on the City Thunder bench include the small forward and team captain Griffin Ongwae. The Kenyan national team player spent a majority of his playing career with Bakken Bears in Denmark, where he won three titles and the Danish Cup twice. Another key player is the American-Nigerian guard Uchenna Iroegbu.

Since their qualification for the Elite 16, the Thunder has unveiled Nigerien star Abdoulaye Harouna and South Sudan-born Lebanese international Ater James Majok, who is the 2022 BAL champion and was also named the Defensive Player of the Year in the same edition.

By Dylan Mugenga