Made by Ball Blue Soldiers, commonly known as MBB or MBB Blue Soldiers, is a South African basketball team based in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. The team plays in the

Basketball National League The Basketball National League (BNL) is the pre-eminent male professional basketball league in South Africa. The league was founded in 2013, however, before the Premier Basketball League had been running as the country's premier basketball leagu ...

(BNL), the highest level of basketball in the country, following their promotion in 2024. They have won one

National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

title in 2024. They made their debut in 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) in the 2025 season.

History

The team was founded as a social club in 2010 by a group of players who had moved from

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

. The team has been owned by former player Cyril Shabalala, who later also took reigns as head coach. Although the team had been in existence informally, MBB started playing competitively for the first tiem when it joined the

regional

Inner City Super League The Inner City Super League (ICSL) is a South African semi-professional basketball league for men's and women's teams in Greater Johannesburg, as well as other places in Gauteng. It was founded in 2013 and most of the teams participating are bas ...

(ICSL) in 2023. They went on to win back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024. The Blue Soldiers joined the

(NBL) for the 2024 season, and later also won the BSA-organised

title. Their national championship title earned them the right to play 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 ...

, where they will make their debut in the Elite 16 phase, becoming the third South African team 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 ...

, behind the Jozi Nuggets and the

Cape Town Tigers The Cape Town Tigers are a South African professional basketball team founded in Cape Town. The Tigers have played in the Basketball National League (BNL) and played in three seasons of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) between 2022 and 2024. ...

. On January 12, 2025, MBB announced on ''

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

'' that they would play in the 2025 season of the

(BAL). On February 4, 2025, MBB announced Sam Vincent as their new head coach. Their participation was confirmed on 28 February 2025. On May 20, 2025, MBB won its first ever BAL game, defeating Nairobi City Thunder. The Blue Soldeirs were eliminated in the last round, and finished with a 2–4 record. The team uses the slogan ''‘iTeam Yase Dladleni’,'' which roughly translates to "The People's Team".

Honours

* South African National Basketball Championship (1): 2024 *

(2): 2023, 2024

Players

Current roster

Head coaches

* Cyril Shabalala: (–2025) * Sam Vincent: (2025–present)

References

Basketball teams in South Africa Sport in Johannesburg Road to BAL teams Basketball Africa League teams Basketball teams established in 2010 {{SouthAfrica-sport-team-stub