The 2022 BAL Finals was the championship game of the

2022 BAL season The 2022 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 2, was the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season began on 2 March 2022 and ended with the Finals on 28 May 2022. The group phase was played in the Dakar Arena in Dakar and ...

, the second season of the

Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is Africa's premier men's basketball league. The league consists of twelve teams, each qualified through their domestic competition, similar to the format of the UEFA Champions League. The league is a joint eff ...

(BAL). The final was played in the

BK Arena BK Arena (formerly known as Kigali Arena until 2022) is an multi-purpose indoor arena in Kigali, Rwanda, used mostly for basketball and volleyball matches. Built and finished in 2019, it hosts sporting events and concerts. It is the biggest indoor ...

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...

on 28 May 2022, between Angolan club Petro de Luanda and Tunisian club US Monastir. US Monastir won the game after pulling away in the fourth quarter, winning its first BAL and its first African continental title. The game was attended by a sold-out crowd of 10,000.

Teams

''In the following table, finals in the

FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup The FIBA Africa Basketball League (formerly named the FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup) was the highest caliber men's professional basketball competition for clubs until 2020, organized by the FIBA Africa and played by the champions of the league ...

are in small text.''

Venue

On 9 December 2021, The

, then named the "Kigali Arena", was announced as the venue of the

2022 BAL Playoffs The 2022 BAL Playoffs was the second edition of the playoffs of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) and was the concluding tournament of the 2022 BAL season. The playoffs began on 21 May 2022 and ended on 28 May 2022 with the Finals. For a second c ...

. This was the second consecutive final that was held at the arena.

Background

Petro de Luanda

Petro de Luanda qualified as the champions of the 2020–21 season and brought back Brazilian coach José Neto for a second season. The core of its roster remained intact, with Anderson Correia and

Yanick Moreira Yanick Pires Moreira (born July 31, 1991) is an Angolan professional basketball player for Kolossos Rodou of the Greek Basket League. He played two seasons of college basketball for the SMU Mustangs. Early life and college career From 2008 to ...

being signed as reinforcements on 15 March 2022. Petro had its most successful season in history, as the team won the

2021–22 Angolan Basketball League The 2021–22 Angolan Basketball League, for sponsorship reasons the 2021–22 Unitel Basket, is the 44th season of the Angolan Basketball League, the highest premier basketball league in Angola. The season consisted of 13 teams and began on 22 D ...

with an unbeaten record of 33–0. On 11 May 2022, it captured its 15th national title after sweeping Interclube in the national finals. As the team also won the

Angolan Cup Angolan may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Angola *Angolan people; see Demographics of Angola *Angolan culture *Angolar Creole *Something of, from, or related to the historical Bantu Kingdom of Ndongo *A resident of: **Angola, New Y ...

and the

Angolan Supercup Angolan may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Angola *Angolan people; see Demographics of Angola *Angolan culture *Angolar Creole *Something of, from, or related to the historical Bantu Kingdom of Ndongo *A resident of: **Angola, New Y ...

, it captured its first national treble. In the 2022 BAL Nile Conference, Petro ended in second place after losing only to

Zamalek Zamalek ( ar, الزمالك , ''al zamalek'') is an affluent district of western Cairo encompassing the northern portion of Gezira Island in the Nile River. The island is connected with the river banks through three bridges each on the east an ...

. On 8 May, American guard E. C. Matthews was added to the roster ahead of the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. After defeating AS Salé in a re-match of last season's quarterfinal, Petro defeated FAP to reach its first-ever BAL final and its ninth African continental final.

US Monastir

US Monastir qualified for its second straight BAL season after winning the 2020–21 Championnat National A title. In the offseason, the club lost its All-BAL star players

Omar Abada Omar Abada ( ar, عمر عبادة, born 20 April 1993) is a Tunisian professional basketball player who plays for Al Wahda Damascus of the Syrian Basketball League. Abada also plays for the Tunisia national basketball team. Born in Tunis, he s ...

and

Makrem Ben Romdhane Makrem Ben Romdhane (alternate spellings: Makram, Macram) ( ar, مكرم بن رمضان; born March 27, 1989) is a Tunisian professional basketball player for Benfica and . He can play at either the small forward, power forward or center posit ...

in the offseason as they signed in Saudi Arabia and Portugal respectively. The roster was strengthened with Solo Diabate and Michael Dixon, however, while

Ater Majok Ater James "AJ" Majok (born 4 July 1987) is a professional basketball player for Al Riyadi Club Beirut of the Lebanese Basketball League. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2011 NBA draft with the 58th overall pick. He represents Le ...

re-signed. In its domestic competitions, Monastir had another dominant season as it captured its fourth consecutive national title on 11 May 2022, having defeated

Ezzahra Sports Ezzahra Sports ( ar, الزهراء الرياضية), or EZS, is a Tunisian professional basketball club from Ezzahra. The club competes in the Championnat National A, the domestic first tier. Home games are played in the Ezzahra Arena. History ...

in the finals. Three days later, on 14 May, Monastir also won the

Tunisian Cup The Tunisian Cup , officially named the President's Cup, is the official competition of the Cup in Tunisian football and is considered the second most important local title after the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1. The first cup competition was h ...

to complete the double. In the 2022 BAL Sahara Conference, Monastir finished second after a surprising loss against Rwandan club

REG Reg or REG may refer to: * Reginald (disambiguation) * Reg or desert pavement * Raising for Effective Giving, a charity * Random event generator (parapsychology) * Raptor Education Group * Regal Entertainment Group * Regular language * .reg MS Wi ...

. Ahead of the playoffs, the team was strengthened with American guard

Julius Coles Jr. Julius V Coles Jr. (born January 15, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who plays for Al Bataeh Club in the UAE National Basketball League. He played college basketball for the Canisius Golden Griffins men's basketball, Canisius ...

In the quarterfinals, the team blew out

Cape Town Tigers Cape Town Tigers is a South African basketball club based in Cape Town. The team is located in the Gugulethu township. Established in 2019 by three American business partners, the club has won the South African national championship in 2021 and 20 ...

by a season-high 39 points difference. In the semifinals, the team defeated

to take revenge for the previous season's final loss.

Road to the finals

Game

Aftermath

To honour their championship, US Monastir was received at the

Carthage Palace Carthage Palace ( ara, قصر قرطاج), is the presidential palace of Tunisia, and the official residence and seat of the President of Tunisia. It is located along the Mediterranean Sea at the current city of Carthage, near the archaeologic ...

by Tunisian President

Kais Saied Kais Saied ( ar, قَيس سَعيد; born 22 February 1958) is a Tunisian politician, jurist, and retired law professor, and currently the 8th President of Tunisia since October 2019. He was president of the Tunisian Association of Constitutiona ...

. The team was also congratulated on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, former

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

and an investor in the BAL.

References

{{2022 BAL season May 2022 sports events in Africa

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Sport in Kigali