Basketball
BASKETBALL AFRICA LEAGUE ANNOUNCES TEAMS
The Basketball Africa League (BAL) has announced the 12 club teams from 12 African countries that will compete in the league’s inaugural season, which will tip off Friday, March 13 at the Dakar Arena in Dakar, Senegal.
The announcement was made by BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall at the NBA All-Star 2020 Africa Luncheon in Chicago.
In attendance at the occasion were FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis, NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts, Retired General Martin E. Dempsey and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
Also present were FIBA President Hamane Niang, FIBA Africa and BAL Board President Anibal Manave, FIBA Africa Executive Director Alphonse Bilé, Philadelphia 76ers Co-Managing Partner David Blitzer, Milwaukee Bucks Co-Owners Wes Edens and Marc Lasry, Brooklyn Nets Alternate Governor Oliver Weisberg, NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum, Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri and members of the NBA family, including Las Vegas Aces center and three-time WNBA All-Star Liz Cambage (Australia; parent from Nigeria), New Orleans Pelicans Vice President of Basketball Operations and Team Development and three-time WNBA Champion Swin Cash, NBA Cares Ambassador Jason Collins, former NBA players Festus Ezeli (Nigeria), Mamadou N’Diaye (Senegal) and Olumide Oyedeji (Nigeria), Boston Celtics two-way player Tacko Fall (Senegal), 2005 WNBA Champion Hamchétou Maïga-Ba (Mali), two-time NBA Champion D.J. Mbenga (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Capital City Go-Go General Manager Pops Mensah-Bonsu (Ghana), NBA Global Ambassador Dikembe Mutombo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Oklahoma City Thunder guard/forward Abdel Nader (Egypt), Los Angeles Sparks forward and two-time WNBA All-Star Chiney Ogwumike (parents from Nigeria) and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Josh Okogie (Nigeria).
“This is a historic moment as we welcome the 12 teams that will participate in our inaugural season,” said BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall. “These teams have earned the opportunity to represent their respective countries and will establish the BAL as a world-class product that entertains fans of all ages when the season tips off March 13.”
Champions from national leagues in six countries – Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia – were guaranteed representation in the inaugural BAL season. The remaining six teams, which come from Algeria, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Rwanda, secured their participation through BAL qualifying tournaments conducted by FIBA Africa across the continent in late 2019.
NIKE and Jordan Brand, the BAL’s exclusive on-court outfitter, today unveiled the official BAL uniforms. NIKE and Jordan Brand will outfit the league’s 12 teams with official game uniforms, warmup apparel, socks and practice gear, with six teams featured in NIKE and the other six teams in Jordan Brand. The collaboration with NIKE and Jordan Brand marks the BAL’s first partnership.
The BAL has also launched the league’s official website and social media accounts. Fans can now follow the BAL @theBAL on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and register their interest in receiving more information at www.theBAL.com.
The inaugural BAL regular season will take place in Cairo (Egypt), Dakar (Senegal), Lagos (Nigeria), Luanda (Angola), Monastir (Tunisia) and Salé (Morocco). Kigali (Rwanda) will host the first-ever BAL Playoffs and Finals.
The BAL will debut with 12 club teams from across Africa divided into two conferences, with each conference playing in three cities. Each team will play five games in the regular season, facing every team in its conference once. The top four teams in each conference will qualify for the single-elimination playoffs in Kigali, Rwanda.
Additional details about the BAL will be announced in the coming weeks.
Musa Kida, the president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), has been appointed as a non-executive chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), the country’s apex oil company. His appointment is part of the sweeping overhaul that the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu made in the first working day after the Sallah break.
The sacking of the board of the NNPC sees the appointment of Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the new Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), replacing Mele Kolo Kyari. Prior to his current appointment, Kida was the Deputy Managing Director, Deep Water Services, of Total Nigeria.
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Basketball
NSC DG Bukola Olopade Congratulates NBBF Boss Musa Kida for new appointment as NNPC Chairman
The Director General of the National Sports Commission NSC, Bukola Olopade, has congratulated the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, Musa Kida, for his appointment as the new Board Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Olopade said Musa Kida has been one of Nigeria’s most efficient and Productive Sports administrators who has sacrificed a lot for the growth of Nigerian Basketball.
The DG maintained that his latest appointment is a testament to his years of passion, hard work, dedication and a very successful track record in the oil sector for more than two decades.
” Musa Kida is an accomplished administrator whose achievements cut across both the oil sector and Nigerian basketball. I have no doubt that the NNPC Limited will attain better efficiency and attract more investment under his watch”.
” Under his leadership as the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, we have seen the steady growth of the country’s basketball and how the National teams have continued to achieve new heights.
” At the last Olympic Games in France, the Nigeria Women’s Basketball team, D’Tigress was one of the shining stories for Team Nigeria, where they set a new record by making it to the knockout phase before losing to the United States”.
” I personally know the efforts behind the scenes that kida put in for Nigeria to achieve that feat with the girls in France and the Nigerian girls have been an unrivalled team on the continent for some time now”.
The DG added that he does not doubt that Musa Kida will use his new position to further earnest the development of Nigerian Sports especially basketball especially now that there is a new focus on growing a sustainable Sports Economy.
” Whilst the Oil sector will benefit immensely from the Expertise of Musa Kida as the new Board Chairman of the NNPC Limited, Mr President, has further helped to place Nigerian Sports in a better pedestal by putting one of us in a very strategic place like the NNPC”, he concluded.
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Basketball
FIBA names Nigeria’s Agada among those who starred the most on the last day of the 2025 AfroBasket Qualifiers
The 16 teams that will be competing at this year’s FIBA AfroBasket from 12-24 August have been confirmed, with some teams securing their places on the final day of qualifying.
A quintet of individuals put in stellar performances to send their teams to this year’s African championship in style.
Teams have 169 days to prepare for the 2025 edition of the AfroBasket set to be hosted by former champions Angola, who will be chasing a record-extending 12th title.
FIBA- Africa looked at the matches and the players and featured nine players who were the stars of the final day on Sunday.
Here is FIBA’s analysis: The return of the Tokyo Olympian has been a blessing for Abdulrahman Mohammed’s Nigeria.
For the second game in a row, Agada was a thorn in their side’s side, scoring 23 points in a convincing 77-62 win over 2021 AfroBasket semifinalists Cape Verde.
The 30-year-old played just over 30 minutes and finished two rebounds shy of a double-double while adding six assists and five steals for an efficiency rating of 29.
Nigeria entered the competition after an 0-3 start, but his disruptive presence on the floor helped them to a 3-0 run to qualify, averaging 19 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists.
The other players highlighted are: Ousmane Drame of Guinea, Karim Maneof Senegal, Childe Dundao of Angola, Siriman Kanoute of Mali, as well as Ntore Habimana (Rwanda) Aliou Fadiala Diarra (Mali) Allan Dokossi (Central African Republic)and Nisre Zouzoua (Cote d’Ivoire)
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