The National Basketball Association (NBA) has confirmed that it removed Rwanda’s army funded basketball club, from the African league following the United States’ sanctions imposed on the country in March.
The NBA had previously said the Rwanda army funded Armée Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) club would not participate in the 2026 Basketball Africa League (BAL).
The decision, which had previously been announced without a detailed explanation, emerged after two U.S. senators questioned the NBA’s continued commercial partnership with Rwanda and demanded clarification over the league’s relationship with the country’s military-backed basketball team.
NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum confirmed in a response to the senators that APR had been withdrawn from the competition following the sanctions and would remain ineligible to participate for as long as the restrictions remained in force.
The U.S. also imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s defense ministry over its support for the M23 rebel group which has seized control of large parts of eastern DR Congo. Rwanda denied backing the rebels despite overwhelming evidence.
In the letter to the NBA dated 23 October, Democratic Senator Jeffrey Merkley and Republican counterpart Marsha Blackburn gave the association until 2 November to provide a written response regarding its continued partnership with Rwanda.
The NBA stated the APR basketball club would remain barred while the U.S. sanctions are in place.
The APR is one of Rwanda’s top basketball teams and represented the country in the BAL in 2024 and 2025.
Rwanda is an official BAL partner and pays the league to host its finals at the 10,000-seat BK Arena in the capital, Kigali.
The BAL is a pan-African basketball league established and co-organized by the NBA and the basketball’s world governing body FIBA.
The BAL pan-African basketball league features 12 club teams from across the continent.
It is said Rwanda hosted all but one of the league’s final and playoff matches since the inaugural match in 2021.
NBA states that these will help Rwanda clean up its global image, while the conflict continues in eastern DR Congo.