Season three of the Basketball Africa League tips off on March 11 in Dakar, Senegal.

Like the last edition, 12 teams representing 12 countries across Africa will play a total of 38 games over three months in a journey to the finals that will start in Dakar, Senegal, then Cairo in Egypt before taking the playoffs to Kigali for the third time in a row.

Of the 12 finalists, six automatically qualified for this season’s BAL while the other six had to go through qualifying tournaments in conferences.

As opposed to last year, however, there will be five debutants in this year’s continental showpiece including Al Ahly, Kwara Falcons, ABC, Stade de Bamako and City Oilers Basketball.

Here is a look at each of the 12 teams and how they made it to season three of the BAL.

Rwanda Energy Group (Rwanda)

REG retained the League title after beating fierce rivals Patriots to win the finals series 3-2 and steal them automatic slot to the 2023 BAL season.

The league champions reached the quarterfinals of the 2022 BAL where they were eliminated by Forces Armées et Police (FAP) of Cameroon. But can they go a step forward and even clinch the title this year?

Union Sportive Monastirienne (Tunisia)

They reigning champions is among only two teams that will be taking part in the BAL for the third time in a row alongside Angola’s Petro de Luanda. They picked one of the automatic spots after they emerged champions of the Tunisian basketball league.

Monastir finished second behind Ezzahra in the regular season of the Championnat National A (CNA) but defeated the latter 3-1 in the playoffs to win their seventh Tunisian league title.

Petro de Luanda (Angola)

Angola’s second most successful team, Petro de Luanda won the Angolan Men’s Basketball League beating Interclube in the best-of-five series to qualify to the BAL for a third consecutive season.

Brazilian Jose Neto who has been in charge of the club since 2020, returns to the BAL, a year after losing the 2022 final to US Monastir. A revenge could be on the card should the pair face off again.

Al Ahly (Egypt)

One of the five new faces to watch at the BAL 2023. The Egyptian basketball league champions missed out on the first two editions to local rivals, Zamalek.

Al Ahly picked one of the automatic slots to the BAL following their victory over Alexandria 3-2 in the best of five series to clinch the league title.

The Red Devils, as they are fondly called, are one already regarded as the favorites to win this year’s title given not only the level of Egyptian Basketball Super League but also based on how Egypt has been faring at the continental club basketball showpiece.

AS Douanes (Senegal)

AS Douanes will be returning to the BAL after beating their arch rivals Dakar University Club (DUC) 2-0 in the Nationale 1 Masculin (Senegal Men’s Basketball league) playoffs to grab their 10th title in their history.

The Senegalese Customs team finished in the quarter final of the inaugural edition of the BAL after they struggled to go past US Monastir.

Kwara Falcons (Nigeria)

The Falcons will be making their debut at this year’s BAL after a victory over Nigeria Customs in the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Finals, saw them pick one of the six automatic spots to the BAL.

The BAL season three will see the return of a Nigerian team to the elite League a year after Nigeria suspended all teams from competing at international competitions for two years due to leadership crisis in the NBBF.

Abidjan Basket Club (Coted I’voire)

ABC were among 14 teams that participated in the 2022 BAL qualifying tournament tagged "Road to BAL” where they were pooled in in Group A of the West Division held in Niamey, Niger.

The champions of the Ivorian Basketball Championship finished unbeaten (3-0) in the group stage that had Stade Malien, Elan Coton and host Nigelec.

They, however, managed one win out of their three group games in the West Division of the BAL Elite 16 which was enough to see them through to the semis where they defeated Stade Malien for a second time in the qualifiers and qualified for the 2023 BAL.

ABC secured their BAL qualification after beating rivals SLAC in the finals to win the Ivorian basketball championship.

Cape Town Tigers (South Africa)

With the six automatic slots already filled, Cape Town Tigers were one of the teams who jostled for the remaining six spots to the 2023 BAL edition.

They didn’t go through the Basketball Africa League qualifying tournament but went straight to the Elite 16 Round as one of the seven teams who played the last edition of the BAL and are champions in their countries.

The South African team edged City Oilers 75-69 in a thrilling semifinal game before they overcame Ferroviario da Beira in the final to emerge Elite 16, East Division champions with a 4-1 record.

Ferroviario da Beira (Mozambique)

Ferroviario also went straight into the Elite 16 as one of the teams who played in last season’s BAL.

They finished with a 2-1 record in the group stage, their only loss was against City Oilers of Uganda.

The Mozambican champions qualified from the East division after they defeated Burundian side Urunani 68-62 in the semi-finals.

Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club-SLAC (Guinea)

SLAC are making a return to the BAL for a second consecutive season. Like Cape Town Tigers and Ferroviario Beira, The Guinean champions made it straight to the Elite 16 of the BAL.

SLAC finished second in Group B of the West division with a 2-1 record and went on to beat Bangui Sporting Club 69-61 in the semifinals which earned them a spot in the 2023 BAL.

Stade Malien de Bamako (Mali)

Stade Malien were in Group A of the road to BAL qualifying tournament in Niamey, Niger. They won two and lost one against Abidjan Basket Club.

The "Elite 16 Division” was a smooth ride for the Malians as they kept a 100% record.

Despite winning all three Group B games, Stade Malien left it late to qualify for the BAL.

The Malian side lost 63-80 to the eventual champions of the West Division, ABC in the semis but they dug deep to pick the last slot when they defeated Bangui 62-59 in the third-place game.

City Oilers Basketball (Uganda)

City Oilers made history as they became the first Ugandan team to qualify for the BAL when they picked the last ticket in the East Division. They held on to defeat the champions of Burundi, Urunani 71-62 in the third place game.

COB, who had a 2-1 record in the group stage of the road to BAL, were unbeaten in the group stage of the Elite 16 (3-0) but lost to Cape Town Tigers in the semis.

The Ugandans had to battle for the remaining BAL ticket in the third place game of the East Division.