2019 FIBA Africa Basketball League

Africa Basketball League
Season	2018–19
Dates	September 2018 – April 2019
Games played	24 (Group stage) 12 (Knockout phase)
Teams	42 (Qualifying tournament) 16 (Group stage)
Regular season
Season MVP	Eduardo Mingas
Finals
Champions	Primeiro de Agosto (9th title)
Runners-up	AS Salé
Third place	Smouha SC
Fourth place	JS Kairouan
Statistical leaders
Points Reginald Holmes 20.2 Rebounds Todd O'Brien 12.0 Assists Ahmed Dhif 5.7 Efficiency Maodo Nguirane 21.7
← 2017

The 2018–19 Africa Basketball League or Africa League was the 33nd edition of FIBA Africa's premier club Basketball tournament and the first under the new format and name of Africa Basketball League. The season saw an expansion from twelve to sixteen teams.

After this season, the competition was replaced by the Basketball Africa League (BAL), which will start in March 2020.

Competition format

FIBA Africa has increased the number of participating teams from twelve to sixteen. These teams get their ticket for the Africa Basketball League through regional qualifiers (Zone 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of FIBA Africa).

The qualifiers for the Africa Basketball League Group stage was held from September and until mid-December 2018, while the final phase will take place from January 11 to April 21, 2019, in various African cities.

Group stage

The 16 teams qualified for the round of 16 will be divided into 4 groups of 4 teams each and the competition will take place in the form of a championship where each team will face respectively the 3 opponents of his group.

Elite 8

Then, the first two clubs in each group will qualify for the Elite 8 where the clubs will be divided into four groups of two teams each and then games will be played in a home and away format.

At this stage, the competition will be played in a one-way match against the principle of direct elimination.

Final four

The Four winners will advance to the Final 4, that will be played on April 20 while the final take place the next day.

Qualification tournament

Zone	Qualified teams	Eliminated teams
Zone 1	ES Radès AS Salé JS Kairouan	Wydad AC Al Ahly Tripoli Ittihad Tripoli
Zone 2	SLAC	MBC USFAS Bamako
Zone 3	Rivers Hoopers Civil Defenders Elan Sportif	Custom Braves Harbel Pointer AS Police
Zone 4	BC Terreur ASB Mazembe	CAS 1987 Le Phoenix San Antonio Jet 7 CB
Zone 5	Al Ahly, Smouha, REG	Ethiopia Water Wolekite City KPA Strathmore Patriots JKT Oilers
Zone 6	Ferroviário da Beira, Primeiro de Agosto, Petro Luanda	Ferroviário de Maputo Bravehearts Central Knight Harare City Hornets Foxes
Zone 7	COSPN	Premium Cobras Mahebourg Flippers Beau Vallon Heat

Teams

A total of 16 teams from 10 countries will contest the league.

Venues and locations

ES Radès

AS Salé

JS Kairouan

SLAC

Hoopers

Defenders

Elan

BC Terreur

BC Mazembe

Al Ahly

Smouha

Ferroviário

1º Agosto

Petro

COSPN

REG

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Location of teams in 2018–19 FIBA AfroLeague

Team	Home city	Arena	Capacity
ES Radès	Tunis	Salle Taoufik-Bouhima	3,500
AS Salé	Salé	Salle El Bouâzzaoui	2,000
JS Kairouan	Kairouan	Salle Aziz Miled	2,000
SLAC	Conakry
Rivers Hoopers	Port Harcourt	Rivers State Basketball Complex	2,000
Civil Defenders	Abuja	Abuja Sports Hall	3,000
Elan Sportif	Porto-Novo
BC Terreur	Kinshasha	Martyrs Sports Complex	2,000
ASB Mazembe	Lubumbashi
Al Ahly	Cairo	Al Ahly Sports Hall	3,500
Smouha	Alexandria	Ittihad Sports Arena	2,000
Ferroviário da Beira	Beira
Primeiro de Agosto	Luanda	Pavilhão Victorino Cunha	1,500
Petro de Luanda	Luanda	Pavilhão da Cidadela	6,873
COSPN	Antananarivo	Palais des Sports Mahamasina	7,090
REG	Kigali	Amahoro Indoor Stadium

Group stage

The draw was held in Abidjan on 12 January 2019.

The two teams with the best records for each group qualified to Elite 8.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	AS Salé (H)	3	3	0	272	222	+50	6	Advance to Elite 8
2	JS Kairouan	3	2	1	241	212	+29	5
3	Rivers Hoopers	3	1	2	205	254	−49	4
4	SLAC	3	0	3	233	263	−30	3

Source: FIBA
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	ES Radès	3	3	0	236	187	+49	6	Advance to Elite 8
2	Civil Defenders	3	2	1	209	213	−4	5
3	Élan Sportif (H)	3	1	2	193	207	−14	4
4	Terreur	3	0	3	185	216	−31	3

Source: FIBA
(H) Hosts

Group C

Main article: 2018–19 Africa Basketball League Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Primeiro de Agosto	3	3	0	243	196	+47	6	Advance to Elite 8
2	Al Ahly (H)	3	2	1	241	239	+2	5
3	REG	3	1	2	226	225	+1	4
4	Ferroviário da Beira	3	0	3	209	259	−50	3

Source: FIBA
(H) Hosts

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Smouha	3	3	0	276	177	+99	6	Advance to Elite 8
2	Petro de Luanda	3	2	1	235	216	+19	5
3	ASB Mazembe	3	1	2	220	222	−2	4
4	COSPN (H)	3	0	3	196	312	−116	3

Source: FIBA
(H) Hosts

Knockout phase

Elite 8

The Elite 8 games will be played in a home and away basis from March 22–April 14, 2019.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Civil Defenders	146–165	AS Salé	69–69	77–96
JS Kairouan	142–140	ES Radès	68–67	74–73
Petro de Luanda	114–144	Primeiro de Agosto	57–70	57–74
Smouha	179–163	Al Ahly	91–82	88–81

Final Four

On 19 April 2019, the Kimbala Arena in Luanda, Angola was announced as host of the Final Four. The draw was held on 27 April 2019 in Abidjan.

External links

• Official website
• FIBA Africa Official website