East Africa Cup set for expansion amidst Road to BAL uncertainty
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Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 14.10.25. | 09:31
Sources suggest that the NBA and FIBA are in talks to create a development league, akin to the G League, to prepare teams for the new BAL format
As currently run, the East African Basketball Championship Cup (EABCC), whose second edition concluded on Friday, 10 October at Nyayo Stadium, is exclusively a Zone Five event, but plans are underway for expansion.
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The annual tournament is open to teams in FIBA Africa Zone 5, similar to the previously organised FIBA Africa Zone 5 Club Championship, which ran for 33 years.
The league was established to provide international exposure for teams that did not qualify for the Road to BAL as national champions.
“We are in contact with the Zone 3 president, who has a similar competition, and the plan is to have the East and West champions or finalists clash in December.
This is not a qualifier for anything, but it gives teams and players a chance at international basketball while improving locally based players’ basketball,” Zone 5 president Hesham El Hariri told Mozzart Sport on the sidelines of the EABCC.
His announcement comes barely weeks after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that the Basketball Africa League (BAL) was restructuring its competition and intends to sell franchises to establish 12 permanent teams.
Sources suggest that the NBA and FIBA are in talks to create a development league, akin to the G League, to prepare teams for the new BAL format.
Interestingly, this new league, unlike the proposed new BAL format, will operate as a merit-based qualification competition and might adopt the Road to BAL's format.
The proposed development league will operate alongside the new BAL format, supporting clubs in enhancing their internal organisation and structures to ultimately prepare them for integration into the expanded new BAL system.
Additionally, since the introduction of BAL4HER, a new initiative by the BAL focused on empowering and developing young women basketball players and leaders across Africa, there are ongoing discussions on how to enhance the Women's Basketball League of Africa (WBLA).
However, Hariri maintains that, for now, EABCC is exclusively run for the purpose of engaging more basketball teams from the zone and increasing competitiveness.
“BAL have their plans. Ours is a supporting role. With such competitions as EABCC, the talent pool for the BAL teams gets deeper, and more players get to showcase on a much bigger stage,” Hariri added while steering clear of the conversation on how a BAL franchise would affect basketball in Africa.
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