City Oilers Fixture
•COSPN (Madagascar) – Nov 21
•JBC (Tanzania) – Nov 22
•Ferroviario de Beira (Mozambique) – Nov 23
Ugandan giants City Oilers has revealed its roster for the upcoming 2024 Basketball Africa League Elite 16 round.
The Oilers earned a bye during the previous Road To BAL qualification round having secured a place at the prestigious BAL finals last season.
And once again, they will be hoping to grab one of the three available tickets when the Division East Elite 16 in Johannesburg, South Africa, get underway due November 21-26.
Fresh off their ninth consecutive league title victory, the Oilers have made some adjustments to their squad. Guard Jimmy Enabu is notably absent due to ‘personal reasons’, along with Luak Ruai, Caeser Kizito, Ben Komakech, Henry Mulira, and Moses Maker.
However, the team includes notable players such as Fayed Baale, Tonny Drilleba, Ivan Muhwezi, James Okello, Titus Lual, Edrine Walujjo and Allawi Ssenkubuge from a lots of locally-based players.
Robinson Opong Odoch and Germain Roebuck Junior, from last season’s BAL squad, and Silverback Brandon Ssebirumbi, have been included.
Also enhancing their roster are two American additions – Small Forward Miller Junior Dane Anthony and Guard Parish Petty Perry.
Miller brings in BAL experience, previously playing for Guinea’s Seydou Legacy Athlétique Club (SLAC), while Perry has prior experience in African basketball with Al Ahly Benghazi, and he has as well had stints in Greece and Iran.
City Oilers need to secure a top-two finish in Group B, comprising Ferroviario da Beira (Mozambique), COSPN (Madagascar), and JBC (Zimbabwe), to advance to the semis, where they will face a Group A opponent.
Group A features Cape Town (South Africa), NBA Academy (Africa), Pazi BBC (Tanzania), and Dynamo (Burundi).
The victors of the two semifinals, as well as the winner of the losers match, secure qualification for BAL.
The Basketball Africa League (BAL), a collaboration between FIBA and the NBA, showcases top 12 club teams from Africa.
During the West Division Elite 16 in Yaounde, Sporting Club Bangui (Central Africa Republic), FUS Rabat (Morocco), and Ahly Benghazi (Libya) secured the first three slots for BAL Season 4.
These three, along with three from qualifiers were Oilers are part, will be accompanied by six automatic qualifiers to make it 12 teams for BAL Season 4 to take place in four cities of Egypt, Rwanda, Senegal, and South Africa next year.
The six automatic qualifiers include reigning champions Al Ahly Sporting Club (Egypt), last year’s finalist AS Douanes (Senegal), Petro de Luanda (Angola), Armee Patriotique Rwandese (APR) from Rwanda, former BAL winners US Monastir (Tunisia), and the yet-to-be-determined Nigerian League champion completing the roster.
City Oilers Roster: Fayed Baale, Tonny Drilleba, Miller Dane Anthony, Ivan Muhwezi, Titus Lual, Robinson Opong Odoch, James Okello, Petty Parish, Germaine Roebuck, Brandon Ssebirumbi, Allawi Ssenkubuge, Edrine Walujjo
