Johannesburg November 2022

The Cape Town Tigers will host the Road to the Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2023 Elite 16 Qualifying Tournament (Division East). The Elite 16 is the last stop in the Road to BAL 2023. The Tigers will host seven (7) clubs from seven different countries where three teams will qualify for BAL season 3 in 2023.

The tournament and its activities will take place from 22 Nov 2022 – 27 Nov 2022 at the Ellis Park Arena Johannesburg South Africa. The schedule and groups for the Elite 16 qualifying round for season three of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) have been confirmed following a draw ceremony at FIBA Africa headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Three teams (NBA Academy Africa, Matero Magic and Elan Coton) entered the Elite 16 Round via wild cards.

The 16 teams – divided into four groups of four – will compete for the six places available for the BAL regular scheduled for 2023.

Each team will play the other three teams in their group, and the teams that finish in the top-two places of the group will advance to the Second Round to compete in the Semi-Finals, Final and Third-Place Game of each Division.

The winners of the Semi-Finals and winners of the Third Place Games will qualify to the third edition of the BAL. The Cape Town Tigers, who are back-to-back South African Champions, are grouped alongside NBA Academy from Senegal, Urunani from Burundi and Kenyan Port Authority from Kenya in the round robin stage.

The Basketball Africa League (BAL), a partnership between the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the NBA, is a new professional league and NBA’s flagship basketball competition featuring 12 club teams from across Africa.

The BAL builds on the foundation of club competitions FIBA has organized in Africa and marks the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a league outside North America. The league is sponsored by global brands such as Nike, Brand Jordan, Wilson, Hennessy etc. The BAL is one of the most viable and lucrative leagues in the world.

The tournament will be held at the Ellis Park Arena where the week will be filled with live performances from Mzansi’s best musicians, DJ’s and a fun filled fan zone. When asked about how he felt about hosting
the Road to BAL- Rapheal Edwards- founding owner and CEO of the Cape Town Tigers said

“We are extremely excited about hosting the Road to BAL Elite 16 tournament. It gives us an opportunity to welcome 7 other countries into our beautiful city and let them experience the vision we have to start and what’s to come going forward”.

The competition will be highly competitive and we look to putting on a great show for a family friendly audience. Above everything else, we can’t wait to WIN!”

Along with the excitement on the court, there’s going to be opening and halftime entertainment from some of South Africa’s biggest acts like AKA, Focalistic, Musa Keys, DBN Gogo and many more who will be performing throughout the week at the Ellis Park Arena.

In the spirit of entertainment, The Cape Town Tigers have also partnered with a few clubs in Johannesburg where they’ll be hosting after parties with surprise acts after some of the games for the players and fans to celebrate together.

With the excitement still in the air, South Africa will be paying close attention to this year’s tournament as the Tigers look to improve on their quarterfinal berth which they attain in their maiden appearance last
season.

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