Luanda - Petro de Luanda make their debut in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) against FUS Rabat Basketball from Morocco, on the 9th of March, according to the draw for the competition.
Petro de Luanda were drawn in the Kalahari Conference, to be played until March 17th, in South Africa, alongside the teams of Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), Dynamo Basketball Club (Burundi) and FUS Rabat Basketball (Morocco).
This 4th edition of the biggest basketball competition at clubs level on the continent, in the League version, will feature 12 teams, divided into three conferences of four each, namely Nile, Saara and Kalahari (Angola are in the last one).
The Nile Conference includes Al Ahly (Egypt), Al Ahly (Libya), Bangui Sporting Club (Central African Republic) and City Oilers (Uganda).
It will be played at the Hassan Mostafa Sports Complex, in Cairo, Egypt, from April 19th to 27th.
The Sahara Conference will be played at the Dakar Arena, in Senegal, from the 4th to the 12th of May.
It includes the teams of APR from Rwanda, US Monastir from Tunisia, AS Douanes from Senegal and the Nigerian champions Rivers Hoopers.
In the three editions of this League format, Petro finished in third place, in the 2021 edition, in 2022 they were defeated finalists, lost in the semi-finals against the Senegalese team from AS Douanes by 86-92, and in the fight for third place they returned to lose.
Petro de Luanda, in the final phase, only won the quarter-final game against the Ivorians from ABC Fighters by 88-84.
The Angolans, however, have the best record in the competition as they participated in the three editions and always reached the semi-finals: 3rd in 2021, 2nd in 2022 and 4th in 2023.
MC/CF/jmc
