Nile Conference of the Basketball Africa League which involves six of the 12 participating teams will tipoff on Wednesday in Cairo, Egypt.

Al Ahly (Egypt), Cape Town Tigers (South Africa), City Oilers (Uganda), Club Atlético Petróleos de Luanda (Petro de Luanda; Angola), Clube Ferroviário da Beira (CFV – Beira; Mozambique) and Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club (S.L.A.C; Guinea) are the six teams competing in Egypt from 26 April- 6 May.

The other six teams had earlier competed in the Sahara Conference last month in Dakar.

Each conference plays a 15-game group phase during which each team plays the five other teams in its conference once.

Al Ahly and the City Oilers will be making their BAL debut, while the Cape Town Tigers, CFV – Beira and S.L.A.C make a return for their second consecutive season while last season’s runner-up Petro de Luanda has participated in all three BAL seasons.

In the conference opener, Al Ahly will take on Ferroviario de Beira at 5pm WAT.

Six Al Ahly players were part of the Egypt National Team that qualified for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. In addition, Al Ahly guard Amr Gendy represented Egypt in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, and guard Corey Webster represented his native New Zealand in two FIBA Basketball World Cups (2014 and 2019).

The top four teams from the Nile Conference group phase will join Abidjan Basket Club (ABC Fighters; Côte d’Ivoire), AS Douanes (Senegal), Rwanda Energy Group (REG; Rwanda) and Stade Malien (Mali) in the BAL Playoffs, which will feature a single-elimination tournament and Finals at BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda in May.

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