The qualification tournaments for the 2022 BAL season, also known as the Road to BAL 2022, were the qualification rounds for the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The tournaments began on 19 October 2021 and ended 16 December 2021. Similar to the first season, the competition consisted out of two stages: the first round and the elite 16.[1] Six teams advanced to the group phase of the BAL.
On 13 October 2021, FIBA announced the 26 teams from 26 countries which participate in the qualification round.[1]
Six teams were drawn in a group for the first round, but withdrew prior to the start of the games.
Prédio
Hawassa City
The first two teams of each group advance to the elite 16 and two wild cards were given to teams from each division.
Initially, four teams were drawn in Group A, which was played in Conakry, Guinea. However, Prédio and WA Boufarik failed to travel to Conakry.[4]
Venue: Conakry, Guinea
Group C was hosted in Yaoundé, Cameroon. FAP, who play in the 2021 regular season, returned while Tondema and Espoir Fukash made their debuts in the competition. Malabo Kings forfeited the last day.
Because Hawassa City and ASCUT of Group D withdrew, the groups were divided again. New Star was moved to Group D.
Venue: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
All times are GMT+3.
The venue of Group F was the Inzibio Hall in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Five teams were placed in this group, however, Mercenaries pulled out before the start.[3] The Cape Town Tigers and Roche-Bois Warriors made their debut in the international level.[5] The Group featured two former NBA players in Ben Uzoh and Billy Preston, who both played with Cape Town.[6]
In the elite 16, two groups of eight teams were created consisting of the top two teams and wild cards of the first round. AS Salé, as the national champions of Morocco, directly enters this stage. Competition began on 2 December 2021 (Division East) in Johannesburg and 11 December 2021 (Division West) in Yaounde. The top three teams from each group advance to the 2022 BAL season.[7]
On 20 November 2021, the draw was held in Abidjan.[8] On 11 December, FIBA announced ASPAC had withdrawn and AS Salé was not available.[9]
The Division East games were played from 6 December until 11 December at the Wembley Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The third place game was supposed to be played on 11 December 2021, however, the game was cancelled after six players tested positive on COVID-19 hours before the tip-off.[11] It was a later announced that Cape Town qualified as New Star was forced to forfeit.[12]
The following were the statistical leaders in the qualification games.[13]