2021 BAL season
The 2021 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 1, was the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Established as a joint effort between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and FIBA, the BAL is the highest tier continental league of Africa, replacing the FIBA Africa Basketball League. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BAL held its inaugural season one year later as planned, with the season beginning in 2021. Initially the league planned to play in six venues in six countries; however, due to the pandemic the season was held in a bio-secure bubble in Kigali, Rwanda. The season began on 16 May 2021 and ended on 30 May 2021.
| 2021 BAL season | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Kigali Arena in Kigali hosted the entire competition | ||||||||||
| League | Basketball Africa League | |||||||||
| Season | 2021 | |||||||||
| Dates | 16 – 30 May 2021 | |||||||||
| Number of games | 26 | |||||||||
| Number of teams | 12 | |||||||||
| Regular season | ||||||||||
| Season MVP | Walter Hodge (Zamalek) | |||||||||
| Finals | ||||||||||
| Champions | Zamalek (1st title) | |||||||||
| Runners-up | US Monastir | |||||||||
| Third place | Petro de Luanda | |||||||||
| Fourth place | Patriots | |||||||||
| Statistical leaders | ||||||||||
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| Records | ||||||||||
| Biggest home win | 47 points GNBC 66–113 US Monastir (12 May 2021) | |||||||||
| Winning streak | 6 games Zamalek | |||||||||
| Highest attendance | 1,789 US Monastir 63–76 Zamalek (30 May 2021) | |||||||||
The qualifying rounds for the season were held from 16 October to 21 December 2019, with national champion of each African country has the opportunity to qualify through the qualifying rounds. Meanwhile, six national champions directly qualified for the regular season to make a total of twelve teams in the main tournament.
Zamalek won the first-ever BAL championship after beating US Monastir in the finals and going undefeated over the season.