RWANDA’s Patriots have been drawn against Egyptian giants Zamalek – along with four other teams – in the Nile Conference of the regular season of the inaugural Basketball Africa League (BAL), which starts on March 13.

Patriots, who will need to finish among the top four to reach the playoffs, secured their BAL 2020 ticket last December after winning all their nine games in the two-round qualifiers.

Four other members of the Nile Conference include GNBC of Madagascar, Ferrovario (Mozambique), Angola’s Petro de Luanda and Tunisian champions Monastir.

GNBC and Ferrovario shared the same pool with Patriots in the second round of the qualifiers, with the three-time Rwandan champions edging both sides en route to finishing top. GNBC qualified as runners-up, while Ferrovario snatched the final ticket in third place.

The inaugural BAL regular season comprises 12 teams representing as many countries, and the teams are divided into two conferences. With the other set being Sahara Conference.

Each team will play five games in the regular season, with the top four from each conference advancing to the single-elimination playoffs.

Rwanda, in May, will host the playoffs games from quarter-finals to the final.

Sahara Conference teams:

AS Sale (Morocco), AS Police (Mali), FAP (Cameroon), Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria), GS Petroliers (Algeria) and Senegal’s AS Douanes.