Burundi’s champions Urunani face exclusion from BAL qualifiers over federation debts to FIBA
The sports ministry says it will not pay the national federation’s arrears, leaving Bujumbura’s most successful club twelve days from a qualifying group in Uganda it may not be allowed to play.
Urunani BBC, Burundi’s basketball champions, cannot compete for a place in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) because the national federation owes money to FIBA, the sport’s world governing body, according to a government spokesperson.
Jeanne Niyonzima, spokesperson for the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, was asked at a press conference of government spokespersons whether the Bujumbura club would be able to take part. She said it would not, because the Burundi Basketball Federation (FEBABU) owes FIBA large sums. She added that paying those debts is not the ministry’s job, and that the ministry has told the federation to make every effort to pay so the players are not penalised. She did not say how much is owed.
The timing is tight. FIBA’s draw for the 2027 qualifiers places Urunani in Group D, played in Hoima, Uganda, from 21 to 25 October, alongside Patriots Basketball Club of South Sudan, Uganda’s Namuwongo Blazers, COSPN of Madagascar and Ushundzi Basket of the Comoros. The top two go through to the East Division Elite 16, which Nairobi will host from 17 to 22 November. The top two in each division qualify for the 2027 BAL season. FIBA’s published draw still listed Urunani, and no statement from FIBA or FEBABU on the club’s status could be found at the time of writing.
If the club is kept out, Burundi will miss a third straight BAL season. The country has sent only one team to the league proper, and that appearance ended badly. Urunani are the most decorated club in the domestic game: the 2026 title was their 18th. They have repeatedly come close to the BAL. In the 2025 qualifiers they won every group-stage game, then lost 90-82 to Cape Verde’s Kriol Star in the Elite 16 semi-final with a BAL place at stake and finished third in the East Division with a 7-1 record.
Burundi’s federation has been in difficulty since March 2024. That month Dynamo BBC became the first Burundian team to play in the BAL. In their opening game they taped over the “Visit Rwanda” sponsor logo during an 86-73 win over the Cape Town Tigers, then forfeited their next games against FUS Rabat and Petro de Luanda rather than display it. The dispute grew out of hostility between the two governments: Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye had accused Paul Kagame’s government of backing the RED-Tabara rebel group and closed the border with Rwanda that January. Rwanda has always denied supporting the rebels. BAL president Amadou Gallo Fall said that under FIBA rules, two forfeits in one tournament mean automatic withdrawal.
Responsibility for the decision was disputed. Dynamo players Bryton Hobbs and Makhtar Gueye said the Burundian government had barred the team from wearing the logo and told the club to forfeit if necessary. FIBA directed its sanction at the federation. In a letter dated 12 April 2024, it provisionally suspended FEBABU pending disciplinary proceedings. Its Central Board later approved the suspension, citing the federation’s encouragement of Dynamo to breach the BAL operations manual and forfeit its games. The federation’s president, Jean Paul Manirakiza, resigned after three years in office, citing personal reasons and internal disagreements.
The consequences continued into the next season. Last October, Dynamo were excluded from the 2026 qualifiers after failing to meet eligibility conditions in time, including the lifting of the suspension the BAL imposed when the club was disqualified in March 2024. In a statement at the time, FEBABU encouraged the club to keep working to regularise its situation.
Burundian sports commentators link the federation’s current debts to the penalties from the Dynamo affair. Ms Niyonzima did not say what the arrears cover or when they arose. The distinction matters because her remarks shift the problem from the club to the federation: Urunani won their place on the court, and the obstacle she described is administrative.
Her comments also make clear that the government does not intend to cover the bill. Unless FEBABU finds the money itself or reaches an arrangement with FIBA, Urunani face the 21 October start of Group D in Hoima without permission to play. The federation has not said publicly how it plans to pay.
