The Basketball Africa League has opened the first renovated courts of a new programme phase in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, with further sites due in Senegal and Nigeria before December.
On 30 September, a covered court at Université Gaston Berger in Saint-Louis, Senegal, was inaugurated in partnership with PETROSEN. The facility is intended for students and local residents. A second court was opened on 3 October at the Groupe scolaire Lac de Koumassi in Abidjan, supported by Wave Côte d'Ivoire. Organisers say the site should host around 3,000 players weekly, including 2,500 pupils, and will serve a basketball development programme for up to 300 girls aged 18 and under drawn from eight schools. It is the second court in Abidjan under the BAL-Wave partnership, after a first in November 2025.
In Senegal, a third court was inaugurated on 7 October at Joal-Fadiouth on the Petite Côte, where 100 boys and girls aged 16 or under took part in an introductory basketball clinic. A fourth opening followed on 9 October in Dakar, with the ceremony closing with the BAL City Run finals involving 12 local teams.
Two more projects are scheduled before the end of the year. A BAL4HER site in Guédiawaye, Senegal, will be inaugurated on 30 October, while a second BAL4HER court is planned for Owerri in Nigeria's Imo State in December, supported by WNBA All-Star and BAL ambassador Chiney Ogwumike and her non-profit Queens of the Continent. The court in Owerri already counts more than 300 participants, with renovation work focused on changing rooms, sanitation, lighting and drainage. The infrastructure programme falls under NBA Africa's stated aim to build or renovate 1,000 courts across the continent over the next decade.
