Kenyan club Nairobi City Thunder begins its quest for Basketball Africa League (BAL) 2025 Nile Conference title against formidable Armee Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) today at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.
The two sides will take to the court from 5.30pm (Kenyan time), after a match between South African club Made By Ball Basketball (MBB) and Al Ahly Tripoli of Libya from 2.30pm.
Thunder, MBB and Al Ahly are making their debut in BAL. Home team APR made it to the play-offs of the tournament for the first and last time in the inaugural 2021 tournament.
The top two teams from the tournament will qualify to play in the 2025 BAL Play-offs and Final scheduled for June 1-14 at Sunbet Arena in Pretoria, South Africa. This is the first time BAL Play-offs and Final will be staged outside Kigali, which has hosted four editions of the tournament, producing four different champions.
Zamalek of Egypt won the tournament in 2021, US Monastir of Tunisia in 2022, Al Ahly SC of Egypt in 2023, and Angola’s Petro de Luanda last year. APR failed to make the play-offs in the 2024 Sahara Conference in Dakar last year.
On account of their record and home court advantage, the Rwandan outfit is favourite to clinch on of the two qualifying berths.
The teams will play each other twice. The third placed finisher could advance to the Final as one of two best placed third sides from the three conferences.
Al Ittihad Alexandria from Egypt and Nigeria’s Rivers Hoopers Basketball Club qualified from the Kalahari Conference, while Union Sportive Monastirienne of Tunisia, and Clube Atlético Petroleos de Luanda from Angola went through from the Sahara Conference.
Kriol Star from Cape Verde finished third in the Sahara Conference on same number of points with Clube Atlético Petróleos de Luanda from three wins each.
Thunder won the East Division Elite 16 final when they beat Kriol Star from Cape Verde 99-86 at the Moi International Sports Centre Indoor Arena in December last year, making history as the first Kenyan team to qualify for the Conference.
“We are at a point where we want to compete and win this,” said Thunder coach Brad Ibs.
International small forward Tylor Ongwae, who is the first Kenyan player to feature in BAL when he played for ABC Fighters of Cote d'Ivoire in the 2023 play-offs, will lead Thunder against the formidable APR.
“We know the caliber of teams we are going to meet and we are up to the task. Players, coaches and other team staff have done a good job to prepare,” said Ongwae. Thunder can look to Nigerian point guard Uche Iroegbu for points. He has played for Stockton Kings in the NBA G League in USA.
“Everybody in the team has got great energy right now and are confident in what they are doing,” APR coach James Maye Junior told New Times of Rwanda recently.
“I think our chemistry, our flow of how to work in BAL has really been improving over the last week or so.”
