Nineteen clubs from the Atlantic and Savannah Conferences will participate in the 2018 Women’s Basketball League of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Punchng report.
In a statement on Saturday, the NBBF said the league, which will be abridged, will hold from October 28 to November 7. The federation said the format was decided upon because the FIBA Africa Zone 3 Club Championship Zonal elimination starts in November.
Defending champions First Bank of Lagos lead nine other clubs from the South-West, South-East and South-South – including newly admitted Mountain of Fire Women’s Basketball Club – to Enugu for the Atlantic Conference preliminaries.
Nine teams from the Savannah Conference – North-West, North-East and North-Central – will battle for qualification in Abuja. The preliminaries hold between October 28 and November 2.
Six teams from the two conferences will qualify for the national finals in Lagos holding between November 3 and 7. Winner and first runners-up will represent Nigeria at the FIBA Zone 3 Women Champions qualifiers in Cotonou between November 12 and 15.
The NBBF also said the conference preliminaries for the Men’s Premier League will hold in Port Harcourt and Abuja between November 13 and 17 while the league’s national final holds in Lagos between November 20 and 25.
NBBF President Musa Ahmadu-Kida said, “We thank the stakeholders for their patience and utmost believe in us when we promised earlier this year that come rain or shine, the federation was going to organise all leagues before the end of 2018.
“We are one of the few countries left in Africa whose representatives for the newly-introduced Afro League starting in 2019 have not be announced because our leagues haven’t been concluded.”
