Kriol Star is a Cape Verdean professional basketball team based in

Praia Praia (, Portuguese for "beach") is the capital and largest city of Cape Verde.Capeverdean Basketball League The Capeverdean Basketball League (CBL) is a semi-professional basketball based in Cape Verde. It was founded in 2023 and features eight teams. ABC (Cape Verde), ABC has won both championships so far. History Historically, Cape Verde has known se ...

(CBL) and the

Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is the premier men's basketball league in Africa. Founded in 2019, the league was established and is co-organized by NBA Africa and the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Each season typically r ...

(BAL), as the first Cape Verdean team in league history, having advanced through the qualifiers. The home games of the team are usually played at the 7,000-seater arena

Gimnodesportivo Vavá Duarte Gimnodesportivo (or Gimno Desportivo or Pavilhão Desportivo) Vavá Duarte (older spelling: Vává Duarte) is a multi-purpose stadium in Praia, Cape Verde south of the city center's plateau in the subdivision of Gamboa, Praia, Gamboa (or Chã das ...

History

Although the social organization had been established for around 10 years, the basketball team Kriol Star was established in 2024 by the two professional players and brothers Joel and

Ivan Almeida Ivan Almeida (born 10 May 1989) is a Cape Verdean professional basketball player for Kriol Star of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Standing at 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m), he usually plays as small forward. He also plays for the Cape Verde men's ...

, through the holding Kriol Star Foundation, they played in the

Road to BAL The Road to BAL, also known as the BAL Qualifying Tournaments, are the qualifying tournaments of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). While the main tournament is co-organised by FIBA and the NBA, the organization of the qualifiers is completely do ...

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, becoming the first club from Cape Verde to play in FIBA's continental qualifying tournaments. Led by head coach Hugo Da Silva Salgado, they were allocated in Group A. The first roster was revealed in October 2024, and included national team players Ali Lahrichi, Joel Almeida,

Dieudonné Ndizeye Dieudonné Ndayisaba Ndizeye (born 14 October 1996) is a Rwandan basketball player for REG of the Rwanda Basketball League (RBL) and the Rwanda national team. He is a three-time RBL champion and a one-time league MVP winner in 2019. Ndizeye has ...

and Oumar Barry, among others. Kriol Star lost its both games against hosts Al Ahli Tripoli and

Stade Malien Stade Malien is a Malian professional Association football, football and sports club based in Bamako. One of the two dominant clubs of Malian football, their eastern Bamako training grounds host other sports as well, including a successful bask ...

and was eliminated in the first round. In November, however, FIBA announced that the team received a

wild card Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

for the East Division's Elite 16 round. On December 2, they defeated the favored

Urunani Urunani BBC is a Burundian basketball club based in Bujumbura. Nicknamed ''"Sisi Wenyewe"'', the team plays in the Viva Basketball League (VBL). Since 1979, Urunani has won more than 17 national championships of Burundi (some years the national c ...

from Burundi in the semifinal to qualify for the

2025 BAL season The 2025 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 5, will be the 5th season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season will begin on 5 April and end on 14 June 2025 with the final. The playoffs and finals will be held in Pretoria, South Africa, ...

. They began their BAL campaign in April, as they were allocated in the Sahara Conference. On the last game day, they defeated the defending champions

Petro de Luanda Petro is a masculine given name, a surname and an Ancient Roman cognomen. It may refer to: Given name * Petro Balabuyev (1931–2007), Ukrainian airplane designer, engineer and professor, lead designer of many Antonov airplanes * Petro Doroshenko ...

in overtime, to clinch a playoff berth. As the seventh seed, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Al Ahli Tripoli.

Roster

The following was Kriol Star's roster in the

2025 BAL qualification 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

Performance in the Road to BAL

References

Basketball teams in Cape Verde Basketball teams established in 2024 Road to BAL teams Sport in Praia Basketball Africa League teams {{CapeVerde-sport-stub