The 2022 Basketball Africa League (BAL) Playoffs and Finals to Be Held In Rwanda - Newslibre

The 2022 Basketball Africa League (BAL) Playoffs and Finals to Be Held In Rwanda

The 2022 Basketball Africa League (BAL) Playoffs and Finals will take place at Kigali Arena in Rwanda from Saturday, May 21 to Saturday, May 28.  The top eight teams from the league’s Sahara and Nile Conferences will compete in a single-elimination Playoffs and Finals, with the winner crowned the second BAL champion.

The 2022 BAL Playoffs will tip-off on May 21 at 8:30 a.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. CAT when Angola’s Petro de Luanda (4-1) takes on Morocco’s AS Salé (3-2), followed by Rwanda’s REG (4-1) against Cameroon’s F.A.P (2-3) at noon ET / 6 p.m. CAT.  The quarterfinals will continue on May 22 with Tunisia’s US Monastir (4-1) facing South Africa’s Cape Town Tigers (2-3) at 8:30 a.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. CAT, followed by defending BAL champion Zamalek of Egypt (5-0) against Guinea’s S.L.A.C (2-3) at noon ET / 6 p.m. CAT.

Winners of the quarterfinal matchups will meet in the semifinals on May 25 for the chance to advance to the 2022 BAL Finals, which will be held May 28 at 12:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. CAT and will air in Africa on ESPN, Canal+, VisionView TV, TV5Monde and Voice of America (VOA) radio, and around the world on American Forces Network (AFN), ESPNews, TSN, the NBA App, NBA.com and NBA.com/BAL.

Tickets for the BAL Playoffs and Finals are on sale now in several categories, including group tickets, early bird tickets, premium tickets and standard tickets. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting the website.

Below is the 2022 BAL Playoffs schedule and notable facts and figures about the 2022 BAL season:

2022 BAL Playoffs schedule

                                                     PLAYOFFS
DATE DAY HOME AWAY GROUP LOCAL TIME ET
                                               QUARTERFINALS
5/21/2022 Saturday Petro de Luanda (ANG) AS Salé (MOR) QF1 2:30 p.m. 8:30 am
5/21/2022 Saturday REG (RWD) F.A.P (CAM) QF2 6:00 p.m. 12:00 p.m.
                                               QUARTERFINALS
5/22/2022 Sunday US Monastir (TUN) Cape Town (SA) QF3 2:30 p.m. 8:30 am
5/22/2022 Sunday Zamalek (EGP) S.L.A.C (GUI) QF4 6:00 p.m. 12:00 p.m.
                                                  SEMI-FINALS
5/25/2022 Wednesday Winner QF1 Winner QF2 SF1 6:00 p.m. 12:00 p.m.
5/25/2022 Wednesday Winner QF3 Winner QF4 SF2 9:30 p.m. 3:30 p.m.
                                                THIRD PLACE
5/27/2022 Friday LSF1 LSF2 3rd Place 6:00 p.m. 12:00 p.m.
                                              CHAMPIONSHIP
5/28/2022 Saturday Winner SF1 Winner SF2 Finals 6:00 p.m. 12:00 p.m.

Notable facts and figures about the 2022 BAL season

The 2022 Basketball Africa League (BAL) Playoffs and Finals to Be Held In Rwanda - Newslibre
Credit: Africa News

Liz Mills

AS Salé head coach Liz Mills (Australia) became the first woman to coach a BAL team during the Sahara Conference group phase, which was held in Dakar, Senegal from March 5-15.  Mills led AS Salé to a 3-2 record and a spot in the BAL Playoffs.

Three iconic African cities

After taking place at a single site last season due to the pandemic, the 2022 BAL season expanded to three iconic African cities: Dakar, Senegal (March 5-15); Cairo, Egypt (April 9-19); and Kigali, Rwanda (May 21-28).

Former NBA players

The 2022 BAL season features three former NBA players: Jamel Artis (Cape Town Tigers; last played for the Orlando Magic), Ike Diogu (Zamalek; last played for the San Antonio Spurs) and D.J. Strawberry (Zamalek; last played for the Phoenix Suns).

4 new countries represented in the BAL

Four countries were represented in the BAL for the first time: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (BC Espoir Fukash), Guinea (S.L.A.C), South Africa (Cape Town Tigers) and South Sudan (Cobra Sport).  S.L.A.C (Sahara Conference) and the Cape Town Tigers (Nile Conference) both qualified for the 2022 BAL Playoffs after finishing in the top four in their respective conference.

Four African players were top performers

Four African players were among the top performers of the 2022 BAL group phase: Mayan Kiir (Cobra Sport; South Sudan) – averaging 18.8 points, 2.2 assists, 11.4 rebounds and 1 steal per game; Amadou Harouna (AS Salé; Niger) – averaging 19.8 points, 3.6 assists, 4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game; Rolly Fula Nganga (BC Espoir Fukash; the Democratic Republic of the Congo) – averaging 18.4 points, 2.4 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game; and Evans Ganapamo (Cape Town Tigers; Central African Republic) – averaging 17.4 points, 2.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.

400,000,000 engagements

This season, the BAL has registered more than 400 million fan engagements through its online platforms, including 66 million influencer engagements, 22 million video views, 12 million social media engagements and four million visits to the official BAL website.

For more information on notable facts and stats, visit the official BAL website.

Distributed by APO Group

 

Also, read: Rainbow Sports Global Launches Revolutionary Free to Use African Football Data Centre

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