Nigeria’s representatives Rivers Hoopers and Civil Defenders will know their respective opponents for the FIBA AfroLeague later in December.
Rivers Hoopers finished with a 5-0 record at the just concluded FIBA Africa Zone 3 Championship in Cotonou to qualify for the inaugural edition of the FIBA AfroLeague starting in January.
Civil Defenders lost only one game to Rivers Hoopers to finish as runners up in Cotonou.
Draws for the AfroLeague will be conducted after the 16th team is determined through a wild card. Teams from Zone 1 completed their qualifiers on Sunday where Tunisian champions, Etoile Sportive Rades emerged as Zone 1 champions while Tunisian club, JS Kairouan and Moroccan champions AS Sportive de Sale completed the qualified teams from Zone 1.
The fifteen teams expected to be drawn into four groups of four include:
Zone 1: JS Kairouan, ES Rades (Tunisia) and AS Sale (Morocco)
Zone 2: SLAC (Guinea)
Zone 3: Rivers Hoopers, Civil Defenders (Nigeria) and Elan Sportif (Benin Republic)
Zone 4: BC Terreur and BC Mazembe (DR Congo)
Zone 5: Al Ahly and Smouha (Egypt)
Zone 6: Ferroviario da Beira (Mozambique), Clube Desportivo de Agosto and AtleticoPetroleos de Luanda (Angola)
Zone 7: COSPN (Madagascar)
The competition will run from January 11 to April 21, 2019 in three phases – group stage, elite 8 and finals. The group stage will be played in a round robin format with the top 2 teams from each of the 4 groups advancing to the top 8. The elite 8 will be divided into 4 groups of 2 teams each and then games will be played in a home and away format. Four winners will advance to the final 4 to be played on April 20 while the final take place the next day.
