| Burundian Basketball Championship | |
| Pixels: | 150 |
| Organiser: | FEBUBA |
| Founded: | 2022 (as Viva Basketball League) |
| Teams: | 10 |
| Levels: | 1 |
| Confed Cup: | Basketball Africa League (BAL) |
| Champions: | Urunani |
| Season: | 2024 |
| Most Champs: | Urunani (17 titles)[1] |
The Burundian Basketball Championship (in French: Championnat National du Burundi), for sponsorship reason the Viva Basketball League, is a semi-professional basketball league that is the highest level of the sport in Burundi. The league is organised by the Fédération de Basketball du Burundi (FEBABU).
In 2022, the league signed a 4-year sponsorship contract with malt drink producer Viva; the winners of the league win a prize money of 10 million FBu (approximately $4,800).[2]
The following 10 teams played in the 2020 season.
| Team | City | Founded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aigle Noir | Makamba | ||
| Brothers | Cankuzo | ||
| Dynamo | Bujumbura | 1968[3] | |
| Gymkhana | 1982[4] | ||
| Les Hippos | |||
| New Star | |||
| Remesha | |||
| Tigers | |||
| Urunani | Bujumbura | 1979[5] | |
| Young Eagles | Gitega |
| width=100 | Season | width=200 | Champions | width=200 | Runners-up | width=50 | Score | width=100 | MVP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urunani | [6] | |||||||||
| 2012 | Urunani | New Star | 69–59 | Elvis Gafyisi | ||||||
| 2013 | Urunani | New Star | [7] | |||||||
| 2014 | Urunani | New Star | 50–54 | Willy Nijimbere | [8] | |||||
| Urunani | ||||||||||
| 2016 | Dynamo | Imbeya | 72–59 | [9] | ||||||
| 2018 | New Star | Gymkhana | [10] | |||||||
| 2019 | Dynamo | Urunani | 76–54 | Jean Hakizimana | ||||||
| 2021 | New Star | Muzinga Ngozi | 74–61 | [11] |
| width=100 | Season | width=200 | Champions | width=200 | Runners-up | width=50 | Finals score | MVP | Winning coach | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Urunani | New Star | Aron Kagabo | |||||||
| 2023 | Dynamo | Urunani | Olivier Ndayiragije | [12] | ||||||
| Urunani | Dynamo | Jean Jacques Boissy | Olivier Ndayiragije | [13] |
Urunani is the only Burundian team to have played in the FIBA Africa Club Champions Cup, the top-tier competition on the African continent. They played in the 2011 tournament,[14] and in the 2013 tournament.[15]
Dynamo qualified successfully for the 2024 season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL).[16] Dynamo defeated the Malagasy team COSPN 79–78 in the third place game, became the first team from Burundi to play in the league, and the first Elite 16 wild card to advance to the main tournament.
In the opening day game between Dynamo and South Africa's Cape Town Tigers, the Burundian side taped off the logo of league sponsor Visit Rwanda. Political tensions between the two border nations Burundi and Rwanda had been rising, as Burundi has accused Rwanda of supporting the RED-Tabara rebel militia in the country.[17] [18] Dynamo forfeited their second game against FUS Rabat on 10 March, with the BAL citing "refusing to comply with the league’s rules governing jersey and uniform requirements" as the reason why.[19] Following Dynamo's second forfeit on 12 March, the team was automatically withdrawn from the group as per FIBA rules.[20] Dynamo players Bryton Hobbs and Makhtar Gueye stated that the Burundian government had prohibited the team to wear the logo and ordered the club to forfeit its games if necessary.[21]
| Season | Representative | Road to BAL | Main competition | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W% | Result | Qualified | W% | Result | |||||||
| 2021 | Dynamo | 1 | 3 | First Round | colspan=3 rowspan=3 | ||||||
| 2022 | New Star | 4 | 2 | Fourth Place | |||||||
| 2023 | Urunani | 5 | 3 | Fourth Place | |||||||
| 2024 | Dynamo | 4 | 4 | Third Place | 0 | 1 | .000 | Disqualified | |||
| 2025 | Urunani | ||||||||||
| Total | 14 | 12 | 0 | 1 | .000 | ||||||
The Heroes Cup (in French: Coupe des Heros) is a cup competition that is held to celebrate the Independence of Burundi and to commemorate its national heroes. It was established in 2017, and is organised by the non-profit organization Fondation Pax-Burundi. Teams from the first championship participate, as well as teams from the B Division.
| Edition | Season | Champions | Runners-up | Score | MVP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2017 | Dynamo | Muzinga | 53–48 | – | [22] |
| 2 | 2018 | Dynamo (2) | Urunani | 71–34 | [23] | |
| 3 | 2019 | Urunani | Gymkana | 60–55 | [24] | |
| 4 | 2020 | Dynamo (3) | Muzinga Ngozi | 72–62 | Amani Rushoza | [25] |
| 5 | 2021 | Urunani (2) | Dynamo | – | [26] | |
| 6 | 2022 | Urunani (3) | Dynamo | 82–81 | [27] | |
| 7 | 2023 | Dynamo (4) | Urunani | 52–45 | [28] |