A record 28 countries and 156 players will compete in the 2025 Basketball Africa League, which will kick off this Saturday, April 5, at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat, Morocco.

In the season opener, Stade Malien (Mali), third-placed in 2023, will face Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), third-placed in 2024, at 16:00 GMT. In the second game, the home team, Fath Union Sport (FUS; Morocco), will face Al Ittihad (Egypt), a newcomer to this competition, at 19:00 GMT. The complete season schedule is available on the BAL website.

The 2025 BAL season will reach fans in 214 countries and territories in 17 languages ​​through free and paid television broadcast partnerships with the African Broadcasting Union, American Forces Network (AFN), Canal+, ESPN, FIBA's digital platform, Courtside 189, NBA TV, Tencent Sports, TV5 Monde, and live streaming on the BAL App , the BAL Website , and the BAL YouTube channel.

The BAL also announced today that the league will honor NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo throughout the season, including a “DM55” patch on all player jerseys and select warm-up gear, as well as during the minutes of silence before each conference group stage.

Dikembe Mutombo is a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and the NBA's first global ambassador after his retirement in 2009.

During the 2025 BAL season, each four-team conference will play a 12-game group stage, during which each team will face the remaining three teams in its conference twice. During the group stage, all teams will play on every game day.

The Kalahari Conference group stage will take place from April 5 to 13 in Rabat. The Sahara Conference group stage will take place from Saturday, April 26, to Sunday, May 4, at the Dakar Arena in Dakar. The Nile Conference group stage will take place from Saturday, May 17, to Sunday, May 25, at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.

Eight teams from the three conferences will travel to Pretoria, South Africa, for four qualifying games, followed by eight playoff games and single-elimination finals, from Friday, June 6, to Saturday, June 14.