The Basketball National League (BNL) is the pre-eminent male and female semi-professional

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league in

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. Since its inception in 1993 the league has been exclusively played by male club teams, in 2021 the women's division officially launched. The 11 teams of th
WBNL
are the female teams of the current participating clubs.

History

Founded in 1993 as the Premier Basketball League, it was disbanded in 1996. The league was renamed the Basketball National League in 2013. The BNL Season of 2018 started in August, the 3rd and ended on October, the 27th. For the first time ever, the championship was won by the Soweto Panthers. In 2016 the league piloted a women's division in Gauteng, The Sturdy Stars won the title that year. South Africa saw the official nationwide launch of the Women's Basketball National League (WBNL) in 2021, with the participating club expansion the W-Tshwane Suns won their first National Championship on the 27 November 2021. Because of the scarcity of available basketball arenas, all games between 2013 and 2015 were played at

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Stafford, Gauteng Stafford is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It's an industrial suburb located south of the Johannesburg CBD, close to Springfield. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. History The suburb was es ...

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

, a former ice-rink which holds up to 3,000 visitors.Basketball (And The NBA) Try To Find Fans In South Africa
Don Boroughs (

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), 3 August 2015. Accessed 3 December 2020.

Current clubs

The league currently has 11 clubs:

Championships

Men

Women

All-Star Team

The 2018 All-Star Team consisted of: * Tatenda Maturure ( Soweto Panthers) * Vusimuzi Sithole ( Soweto Panthers) * Reece Prinsloo ( Soweto Panthers) * Marcus Mokoena ( Soweto Panthers) * Kwazi Gumede (

eGoli Magic Egoli Magic is a South African basketball club based in Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and ...

) * Miguel Ferrao (

) * Sbusiso Cele (

) * Kagiso Ngotjana ( Tshwane Suns) * Richard Lubasi (

Mpumalanga Rhinos The Basketball National League (BNL) is the pre-eminent male and female semi-professional basketball league in South Africa. Since its inception in 1993 the league has been exclusively played by male club teams, in 2021 the women's division offic ...

) * Nkosinathi Sibanyoni (

) * Stenard Mapurisa ( Western Cape Mountaineers) * Nhlanhla Dlamini ( KwaZulu Marlins)

Individual wards

References

External links

* * Basketball competitions in South Africa Basketball leagues in Africa Professional sports leagues in South Africa {{SouthAfrica-sport-stub