The Cebu Classic is a Filipino professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team based in the Cebu metropolitan area. The team competes in the

Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's regional professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 30 teams. Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion and then-Senator Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is ...

(MPBL) as a member of the league's South Division. The team has played its home games across multiple venues across Metro Cebu. The team began play in the 2018–19 season as the Cebu City Sharks, then renamed as the Cebu Sharks the following season. Midway through the season, the team was renamed as the Cebu Casino Ethyl Alcohol, named after Casino Ethyl Alcohol from owners International Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. The team then went on hiatus for five years before making a return for the 2025 MPBL season, under their current moniker. The Cebu franchise is one of two teams based in

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...

, the other being the Bacolod City of Smiles, and the lone team based in the

Central Visayas Central Visayas (; or ) is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VII. With only two Provinces of the Philippines, provinces: Cebu and Bohol, as well as three Cities of the Phi ...

region.

History

2018–2020: First stint

The Cebu City Sharks were one of sixteen expansion teams in the 2018–19 MPBL season, as well as the first team based in

. That season saw Cebu make the playoffs despite having a losing record, they eventually lost to the Davao Occidental Tigers. In the 2019–20 season, the team finished ninth, one game behind the eighth-place team in the South Division, the Bicol Volcanoes. The Cebu franchise also had an all-star selection in each of its first two seasons: Patrick Cabahug in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and Will McAloney in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2025–present: Second stint

The Cebu franchise was mentioned as among the teams that were set to return for the league's 2023 season, however its return did not materialize for unknown reasons. Two years later in 2025, another attempt at Cebu's return to the MPBL was first reported by journalist Snow Badua, stating from his source that the franchise was bought by new management and that it is "finalizing details” for its revival. The revival will be managed by Voltaire Ora, who was previously the team manager of the Valenzuela Classic. Among the players joining the revived team are Paulo Hubalde and Rashawn McCarthy. Greg Slaughter was also set to join, but eventually turned away from the team.

Team Roster

Current roster

Head coaches

Notable players

MPBL All-Star Day

All-Star selections * Patrick Cabahug –

* Will McAloney –

PBA players

Ex-PBA players * Paulo Hubalde * Rashawn McCarthy

Season-by-season records

''Note: Statistics are correct as of the end of the 2019–20 MPBL season.''

References

Cebu Classic

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

2018 establishments in the Philippines Basketball teams established in 2018 Sports in Cebu {{Philippines-basketball-team-stub