Ferwaba confirmed the day during its extraordinary general assembly that was held via video conference on Sunday, May 17.
According to Désiré Mugwiza, the Ferwaba president, the decision was made after considering the state of precautionary measures in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent directive from the Ministry of Sports that there should be no sports events before September.
“We have decided to resume the season early September,” Mugwiza told Times Sport after the general assembly, stressing that, however, there ought to be an all-clear from the government before implementation.
The participants, 15 teams out of 20 that comprise the men’s and women’s leagues, decided that completing – rather than cancelling – the league was the best way forward, Mugwiza added
Once the league restarts, teams will face a tight schedule where they will each play between two to three games a week. The 2019/20 season will conclude with the playoffs games in December.
Given the unprecedented times brought by the pandemic, the semi-finals of the playoffs will be a best-of-three contest, while the finals will be the best-of-five unlike last season’s best-of-five semi-final, whereas the finals were played under the global standard of the best-of-seven format.
The general assembly also agreed that teams wishing to drop out of the league due to the coronavirus impact or any other exceptional circumstances, they will be allowed to and face no penalties as per the rulebook of the championship and other annual competitions.
The Bank of Kigali, Rwanda’s biggest commercial bank, are the main sponsor of the Basketball National League with a Rwf130 million package every year.