Dakar, Jan 7 (APS) – The 61-year-old former American Basketball player, Sam Vincent, has been named camp director of the “Combine” 2025 of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) scheduled for Friday in Rabat (Morocco), announced the president of the BAL, Amadou Gallo Fall, in a press release made public on Tuesday.
The BAL “Combine” is a recruitment camp organized by the NBA to allow young people to be selected for the next BAL season. The three-day sporting event will be held at the Ibn Yassine Sports Hall and will bring together more than 30 aspiring players from Africa, Europe, the United States and around the world.
“We are thrilled to have Sam Vincent join us as BAL Combine 2025 Camp Director ahead of our fifth season of the competition. He played an active and essential role in our efforts to develop basketball in Africa,” said Mr. Fall.
According to BAL president, Sam Vincent ”worked tirelessly as a coach and mentor” and supported ”the growth of African basketball”.
”His experience at the highest levels as a professional player, national team head coach and NBA head coach will be an invaluable asset to the players, coaches and our Combine league,” he said. -he added.
A former NBA player, Vincent played for the Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics, Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic during his seven years in the Major Professional League of American sports.
At the end of his career in 1992, the 1986 NBA champion with the Boston Celtics converted to coaching. He has managed several national teams in Africa, Asia and Europe, with impressive results.
At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, he coached the Nigeria women’s national team, which defeated South Korea to achieve the first victory by an African nation in an Olympic women’s basketball competition.
Two years later, Vincent coached the Nigeria men’s national team to the second round of the 2006 FIBA World Championship.
BAL 2025 scheduled between April 5 and June 14, 2025
The fifth edition of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) will start on April 5, 2025 in Rabat and end on June 14 of the same year in Pretoria, South Africa.
For the first time, this competition will be held on Moroccan soil, at the Moulay-Abdallah sports complex.
South Africa, where the last edition of the BAL started, has been chosen for the final of the 2025 edition. The meeting will be held at the SunBet Arena.
Twelve teams representing as many African countries will participate in the fifth edition of the Basketball Africa League.
The winning clubs of the national basketball leagues of Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia will qualify directly for the BAL.
Five other teams will be chosen following qualifying tournaments organized by FIBA Africa, the body responsible for administering continental basketball, between October and December 2024.
The 12 teams will be divided between three conferences with four teams for each conference.
Forty-eight matches will be played in Rabat, Dakar, Kigali and Pretoria.
Each conference will have a group stage of 12 matches. Each team will face the other three teams from the same conference twice.
The Kalahari Conference group stage matches will take place from April 5 to 13 in Rabat.
The Sahara conference will be held from April 26 to May 4 at the Dakar Arena, in Senegal.
The Nile Conference matches will take place from May 17 to 25 at the BK Arena in Kigali.
Eight teams from the three conferences will qualify for the play-offs, which will be held in Pretoria from June 6 and conclude with the final scheduled for June 14.
The Basketball Africa League is an annual African competition, which has been played since 2021. It is the result of a partnership between FIBA Africa and NBA Africa.
Zamalek (Egypt) won the first edition. US Monastir (Tunisia) and Al Ahly (Egypt) are respectively winners of the 2022 and 2023 editions. Petro de Luanda (Angola) won the 2024 edition.
SK/OID
