The national basketball league 2021/22 will tentatively kick off on February 18, the Rwanda Basketball Federation (Ferwaba) has said.

Landry Jabo, the Executive Director at Ferwaba told Times Sport that the date is subject to confirmation.

"It can be changed depending on discussions between the members and relevant institutions,” he said. 

Also according to Ferwaba’s tentative schedule, January 11 is the proposed date for the start of pre-season training, and January 27 for the start of the national Heroes’ Tournament.

The second division league that will commence this year is tentatively scheduled to start on March 12, and Times Sport understands that the new teams are still registering to take part.

"There are four teams that were relegated from the first division, but there are others who have applied to take part in the second division this season. We are here to see if they meet the requirements in the coming days and we will announce the number of teams that will play this season,” Jabo said.

The teams that were relegated from the first division are: Espoir, UGB, IPRC Musanze, UR Huye and UR CMHS.

Meanwhile, REG will go into the new season as the defending champions having defeated Patriots in the best-of-three playoff finals of the 2020/21 Basketball national league at Kigali Arena last month.

In the women’s category REG won the championship 2-1 in the best-of-three playoff finals following a 50-44 Game 3 victory.