Five seasons in, the BAL has a Libyan champion and a record crowd
The Basketball Africa League, run by the NBA and FIBA, finished its fifth season in 2025 with Al Ahli Tripoli of Libya beating Petro de Luanda 88-67 in Pretoria. FIBA reported a record 141,564 fans attended across the season.
Key points
- The BAL is a partnership between the NBA and FIBA, and the NBA's first league collaboration outside North America.
- The first season tipped off on 16 May 2021 in Kigali, Rwanda, with 12 teams.
- In the 2025 final, Al Ahli Tripoli beat Petro de Luanda 88-67 in Pretoria.
- FIBA reported a record 141,564 fans across the BAL's fifth season.
What happened
The idea was simple and big: give Africa's best clubs one proper continental league, run to a professional standard. The BAL builds on club competitions that FIBA's Africa office had organised for years, and the NBA brought its league know-how. The first season had to be played in one place, Kigali, because of Covid, but the plan was always to travel.
By 2025 the league was playing conference games in several cities and finishing in Pretoria, South Africa. That spread is the point of the project: new arenas, bigger crowds, local jobs around game days, and a clear stage where young African players can be seen without first leaving the continent.
Claim by claim
Why this label: Stated in the NBA's own announcement of the inaugural season.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Dates and format from the NBA announcement.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: FIBA calls 2025 the league's milestone fifth season in its championship report.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Scoreline and first-Libyan-winner detail from FIBA's championship report. Note the winner is Al Ahli Tripoli of Libya, not Al Ahly of Egypt or Al Ittihad, who finished fourth.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Attendance and reach figures reported by FIBA.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Both details from FIBA's report of the finals in Pretoria.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- Five BAL seasons have been played, from 2021 to 2025.
- The 2025 champions are Al Ahli Tripoli of Libya, by an 88-67 score.
What we don't know yet
- How the league's finances look club by club, which the sources checked do not publish.
- Which cities will host each conference in the next season, beyond announcements made after this story's sources.
Why it matters
For years, a talented African basketball player usually had to leave early to be noticed. A serious home league changes that path. It keeps ticket money, broadcast attention and role models on the continent, and it gives clubs a reason to invest in coaching and arenas.
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