For the second time in BAL history, the playoffs will be played without the reigning champions. Libya’s Al Ahli Tripoli, who lifted the trophy in the previous edition, failed to qualify for this year\u2019s finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only previous occurrence of this came in 2023, when US Monastir, the 2022 champions, shockingly crashed out during the group phase and failed to return to defend their title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teams chasing a historic second title<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Over its history, the BAL has produced a unique string of different champions. As the 2026 bracket stands, only two clubs in this year\u2019s field have previously won the prestigious title: Petro de Luanda (the 2024 champions) and Egypt’s Al Ahly SC (the 2023 winners). Both are looking to become the first club in league history to win two BAL championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rest of the field is heavily comprised of ambitious newcomers and hungry contenders looking to make their first championship game, including Rwanda’s RSSB Tigers, Tanzania’s Dar City, Tunisia’s Club Africain, and Senegal’s ASC Ville de Dakar. They are joined by other experienced continental powerhouses like Morocco’s FUS Rabat and Libya’s Al Ahly Ly (the 2024 runners-up).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ivorian guard Souleyman Diabate stands out as the only player in this year\u2019s finals who has already won the BAL twice. He lifted the trophy in the inaugural 2021 season with Zamalek and again in 2022 with US Monastir. Now a veteran leader, Diabate brings a wealth of international experience from professional leagues across Europe and Asia, and will suit up for ASC Ville de Dakar in this year\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unique competition format<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The playoff stage introduces a high-stakes format. The quarterfinals open the tournament using a distinct two-legged aggregate tie system. Teams will face off twice, and the cumulative score across both games will determine who moves on. From the semifinals onward, the format switches back to a high-pressure, single-elimination knockout format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several elite teams in the final eight booked their spots by navigating the grueling, FIBA-run “Road to BAL” qualifying tournaments. Among them, teams like Dar City have shown incredible resilience, bouncing back from early-stage qualifying losses to peak exactly at the right time for the Kigali showpiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tactical battles on the sidelines will be fierce, featuring highly decorated coaches with extensive continental pedigrees. Spanish tactician Sergio Valdeolmillos, who guided Petro de Luanda to continental prominence, returns with deep tactical knowledge. He is joined by veteran Moroccan coach Said El Bouzadi, leading FUS Rabat, who brings decades of experience coaching top-tier North African clubs at the highest levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Basketball Africa League (BAL 2026) playoffs tip off today in Kigali, with the competition running from May 22 to 31, 2026. This marks the decisive final stage of the sixth season of Africa\u2019s premier basketball competition, hosted once again at the state-of-the-art BK Arena in Rwanda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000112798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000112797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000112798,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/postQueueImg_21-62850e5bdaf6d.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1556,"height":1029,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/postQueueImg_21-62850e5bdaf6d.jpg","width":150,"height":99},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/postQueueImg_21-62850e5bdaf6d.jpg","width":300,"height":198},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/postQueueImg_21-62850e5bdaf6d.jpg","width":768,"height":508},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/postQueueImg_21-62850e5bdaf6d.jpg","width":1024,"height":677},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/postQueueImg_21-62850e5bdaf6d.jpg","width":1556,"height":1029}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000112797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000112797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000112797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000112800,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000112797\/revisions\/2000112800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000112798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000112797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000112797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000112797"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000112797"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000112797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/al_ahly_yishimira_igikombe_begukanye-b27d7-c37ac.jpg\"){kind=spacer}