Dar City win boosts BAL 2026 qualification hopes
DAR ES SALAAM: TANZANIA’S Dar City dominated their FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Road to BAL 2026 East Division Elite 16 thirdplace play-off from start to finish, defeating Mozambique’s Ferroviario da Beira 92–77 at the Kasarani Indoor Arena in Nairobi, Kenya, over the weekend.
The victory keeps Dar City’s hopes of qualifying for the 2026 Basketball Africa League (BAL) alive.
The final wild-card spot will be awarded to one of the two thirdplaced teams from the East and West divisions.
Raphiael Putney and Nisré Zouzoua once again led the Tanzanian side with standout performances.
Putney poured in a game-high 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Zouzoua added 25 points and completed a double-double with 10 assists.
Deng Angok Yak Deng and Hasheem Thabeet also made key contributions with 18 and 17 points, respectively.
Veteran guard Solo Diabaté orchestrated the offence masterfully, dishing out a game-high 14 assists—four more than Zouzoua and finishing just three rebounds shy of his own double-double.
Dar City set the tone early, overwhelming Beira 27–12 in the opening quarter.
Although Beira responded in the second period , sparked by Joshua Thomas’s eight points to edge the quarter 23–19, they still trailed 50–31 at halftime.
Beira continued to chip away at the deficit by taking the third quarter 25–19, but Dar City closed out the contest with a composed 23–21 final quarter to secure the win and strengthen their case for BAL qualification.
“Winning this game means a lot. We made history for Tanzanian basketball today,” Diabaté told FIBA.com.
ALSO READ: Dar City storm into BAL East Division Elite 16 semi-finals
“It wasn’t the way we wanted to qualify; we planned to be in the final, but we made a lot of mistakes in the semi-finals. Despite the little time we had together as a unit, we have no excuses for that loss. There were a lot of emotions yesterday, but we learned from that and got the job done today.”
Dar City had gone unbeaten in the group stage, capping their run with an 87–78 victory over Ferroviario da Beira in Thursday’s final Group B game.
They opened their Elite 16 campaign with an 85–78 win over Zambia’s Matero Magic, followed by a commanding 93–75 triumph against Malawi’s Bravehearts.
Their only setback came in the semifinals, where they narrowly fell 71–69 to Johannesburg Giants, missing out on Sunday’s final.
Hosts Nairobi City Thunder went on to win the tournament, defeating the Giants 94–84 to seal their place in next year’s BAL.
