The history of the BAL semifinals over the years (2021-2026)

As the Basketball Africa League (BAL) continues to grow, reaching the semifinals undefeated has become a thing of the past. 

The last time this happened was in 2023, when Petro de Luanda had a promising start to the season before finishing fourth. 

Reaching the Last Four undefeated was almost the norm during the first three seasons of the BAL, with Petro de Luanda (in 2021 and 2023), US Monastir (in 2021) and Zamalek (in 2021 and 2022) dominating the early stages of the season.

However, things have changed dramatically over the years, particularly due to the increased number of games played in a season. 

Each of the four 2026 BAL semi-finalists reached the Last Four with a win-loss record of 5-2.

As we gear up for the 2026 BAL semi-finals, let's take a look at how past semi-final matchups panned out.

2021 BAL semifinals

Patriots Basketball (Rwanda), Petro de Luanda (Angola), US Monastir (Tunisia) and Zamalek (Egypt) secured their places in the semi-finals, aiming to become the first winners of the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

In the 2021 semi-finals, Zamalek defeated Petro de Luanda 89–71, while US Monastir outclassed Patriots Basketball 87–46 in the second meeting between the two teams. 

Zamalek eventually won the 2021 BAL title by beating US Monastir 76–63 in the Championship Game.

2022 BAL semifinals

Before the semi-finals, Egypt’s Zamalek were the only undefeated team. They were joined in the semi-finals by FAP (Cameroon), Petro de Luanda (Angola) and US Monastir (Tunisia), who were attempting to prevent Zamalek from winning back-to-back titles.

Petro de Luanda outplayed FAP 88–74, while US Monastir beat Zamalek 88–81 in a rematch of the 2021 BAL final.

US Monastir then saw off Petro de Luanda (83–72) to become only the second team to win the BAL trophy. 

2023 BAL semifinals

Petro de Luanda had a flawless group stage campaign in 2023, reaching the semi-finals with a 6-0 mark. This included a dramatic 91-90 win over Al Ahly SC in Cairo. 

However, Petro de Luanda's title hopes were quickly dashed. 

The other semi-finalists were Al Ahly SC (Egypt), AS Douanes (Senegal) and Stade Malien (Mali).

AS Douanes shocked Petro de Luanda with a 92–86 win, while Al Ahly SC reached the final by beating Stade Malien 78–73.

Al Ahly SC went on to defeat AS Douanes 80–65 and win the 2023 BAL trophy.

2024 BAL semifinals 

Three of the four semi-finalists had reached this stage of the competition for the first time. 

Joining regular semi-finalists Petro de Luanda were Al Ahly (Libya), the Cape Town Tigers (South Africa) and the Rivers Hoopers (Nigeria).

This was the first time that more than one team from the Road to BAL (Al Ahly Libya and the Cape Town Tigers) had advanced to the BAL semi-finals. 

In the first semi-final, BAL debutantes Al Ahly Ly defeated the Rivers Hoopers 89–83, while in the second semi-final, Petro de Luanda got the better of the Cape Town Tigers (96–86).

Petro de Luanda eventually became the first non-North African team to win the BAL trophy, beating Al Ahly Ly 107–94 in the final.

2025 BAL semifinals

For the second consecutive season, three of the four teams reached the BAL semi-finals for the first time.

BAL newcomers Alahli Tripoli (Libya) and Al Ittihad Alexandria (Egypt), along with two-time participants APR (Rwanda), joined Angola’s Petro de Luanda in the battle for the 2025 BAL trophy.

Alahli Tripoli saw off APR 84–71, while Petro de Luanda dispatched Al Ittihad Alexandria 96–72.

Alahli Tripoli went on to become the first team to qualify for the BAL via the Road to BAL qualifiers and win the title, after defeating Petro de Luanda 88–67 in the final with the largest winning margin ever recorded.

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