As the much-anticipated fourth season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) draws closer, BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall has said that preparations are already in place to make it a stand out event.
The NBA-backed continental showpiece has been taking place annually since 2021, and it continues to attract attention from basketball fans on the African continent and beyond.
The regular season brings together 12 elite clubs from various countries of Africa to vie for the trophy. For the past three seasons, Rwanda has been a host, mainly when the competition reached the playoffs and the finals.
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The tournament normally tips off in March with the group stage phase and runs through June with the playoffs and finals. Kigali will again host the finals for the fourth consecutive time.
Speaking to Times Sport, Fall expressed his excitement about season four both on and off the court.
"We are super excited about season four. Firstly, as we announced, the renewal of our partnership with Visit Rwanda, our foundational partner for five years, was the biggest news for us in the off season,” he noted.
The pre-season had a number of activities including the participation of African coaches in a BAL-supported mentorship program, and many young girls taking part in the BAL4Her, a BAL platform that aims at advancing gender equity in the African sports ecosystem.
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Some three coaches from Rwanda participated in an internship with NBA teams during the summer league in Las Vegas during the preseason.
As the regular season of the BAL edges closer, teams are now playing qualifier games to establish the six teams which will join their six counterparts which already have automatic qualification.
Fall told told Times Sport that the BAL is ready to make big announcements in the coming days in regards to the details on Season 4.
"We are on track,” he said.
"We learn, we get more experience and we know exactly where to get better, where to improve. We have some interesting new additions that we'll be announcing,” he added.
The BAL boss is in Rwanda for the World Travel and Tourism Conference (WTTC) where he will talk about the opportunities that the basketball sport brings on board.
On his visit, he says, he has been impressed by the sports infrastructure being put in place in Rwanda, the latest of which being the major renovation works on the Petit Stade, in addition to some facilities that NBA Africa and the BAL have built in Rwanda.
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"I think for us we wanted to be that spark plug, you know, that catalyst that hopefully can inspire the government and private sector to join in and to amplify the work because we have no illusion that we can do it alone. There is a massive undertaking, there's a lot of opportunities that are exciting to empower young people,” he noted.
"One of the key challenges and areas of opportunity is exactly to have infrastructure, basic access to the game for young people. So, to see the government renovating and also building courts is great, and I'm getting a lot of positive feedback from across, not only the city but people,” he added.