Rivers Hoopers, last season’s Basketball Africa League (BAL) bronze medalists, will participate in the 2025 BAL Kalahari Conference, scheduled for April 5-13 in Rabat, Morocco.
The six-time Nigerian champions are set to face Morocco’s FUS Rabat, Egypt’s Al Ittihad, and Mali’s Stade Malien at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex, kicking off the season against Stade Malien.
According to a BAL statement released Friday, the 2025 season features three conferences with four teams each, playing a 12-game group phase.
Teams will compete twice against each conference opponent. The top two teams per conference, plus the two best third-placed teams overall, will advance to the playoffs.
The eight qualifying teams will then play seeding games, followed by a single-elimination playoff and finals from June 6-14 at Sunbet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.
This marks Rivers Hoopers’ third BAL appearance.
Meanwhile, coach of Rivers Hoopers Ogoh Odaudu while reacting to the draw said the aim of the team is reach the final of the BAL. In a chat with ESPN he said: it is such a great feeling for us to know that we are going back. It means a lot to me because we didn’t want to miss out on qualifying. After all, then it would mean that whatever it is that we achieved the previous BAL was just a fluke. So we really wanted to go back and build on it.”