Sahara Conference

Sahara Conference
League	Basketball Africa League
Sport	Basketball
Founded	2022
First season	2022
No. of teams	4; (2024–present); 6; (2022–2023)
Venue(s)	Dakar Arena
Most recent; champion(s)	Rivers Hoopers (1st title) ; (2024)
	2024 BAL Sahara Conference

The Sahara Conference is one of the three conferences that make up the Basketball Africa League (BAL), the other two being the Nile Conference and the Kalahari Conference. All conferences currently consist of four teams.

The conference alignment began in the 2022 season, although plans to have conferences were already set up before the inaugural season. Named after the Sahara, the conference has been played at a single venue thus far, the Dakar Arena in Dakar, Senegal for the past two seasons.

Venues

From 2022 to 2024, all games of the Sahara Conference were played at the Dakar Arena located in Dakar.^[a]

Current standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	PCT	Qualification
1	Rivers Hoopers	6	4	2	441	413	+28	.667	Advance to playoffs
2	AS Douanes	6	3	3	409	385	+24	.500^[b]
3	US Monastir	6	3	3	437	450	−13	.500^[b]
4	APR	6	2	4	432	471	−39	.333

Source: BAL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
Notes:

^ Officially, the Dakar Arena is located in the town of Diamniadio.
^ ^a ^b Head-to-head: AS Douanes 1–1 US Monastir, AS Douanes won on aggregrate point difference (+1).

Teams

2024 teams

Team	Location	Conference appearances
Team	Location	AS Douanes	Dakar, Senegal	3
APR	Kigali, Rwanda	1
US Monastir	Monastir, Tunisia	3
Rivers Hoopers	Port Harcourt, Nigeria	1

Conference winners

Although no official trophy or title is awarded, the team ending at the top of the standings in the conference is lauded as "Conference winners" by the BAL.

Sahara Conference results
Season	Winners	Conference record	Playoffs result	Ref.
2022 (Details)	REG (RWA)	4–1 (.800)	Lost in quarter-finals	^[1]
2023 (Details)	Stade Malien (MLI)	3–2 (.600)	Won third place game	^[2]
2024 (Details)	Rivers Hoopers (NGR)	4–2 (.667)	Won third place gmae

Titles by team

Team	Titles	Season(s) won
REG	1	2022
Stade Malien	1	2023
Rivers Hoopers	1	2024

Standings

^	Denotes team that won the BAL championship
⁺	Denotes team that lost in the BAL finals
*	Denotes team that qualified for the BAL playoffs

Season	Positions (by team)
Season	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
2022	REG* (4–1)	Monastir^ (4–1)	AS Salé* (3–2)	SLAC* (3–2)	Ferroviário (1–4)	DUC (1–4)
2023	Stade Malien* (3–2)	AS Douanes⁺ (3–2)	REG* (3–2)	ABC Fighters* (3–2)	Monastir (3–2)	Kwara Falcons (0–5)
2024	Rivers Hoopers* (4–2)	AS Douanes* (3–3)	US Monastir* (3–3)	APR (2–4)	–

Notes

References

^ "Rwanda's REG win Sahara leg, AS Sale into BAL playoffs". ESPN.com. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
^ "How Stade Malien became Kings of Basketball Africa League Sahara Conference". OJB SPORT. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.

[1] Officially, the Dakar Arena is located in the town of Diamniadio.

[table_hth_ASD0.58901494070376-2] Head-to-head: AS Douanes 1–1 US Monastir, AS Douanes won on aggregrate point difference (+1).

[3] "Rwanda's REG win Sahara leg, AS Sale into BAL playoffs". ESPN.com. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2023.

[4] "How Stade Malien became Kings of Basketball Africa League Sahara Conference". OJB SPORT. 29 March 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.

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