Professional basketball team in Manila, Philippines
The Manila Stars are a Filipino professional basketball team based in Manila. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's North Division. They are the lone representative of Metro Manila's Capital District and play their home games at San Andres Sports Complex.
The team was founded as an expansion team for the 2018–19 MPBL season. The team has also competed in the Pilipinas Super League since 2022 under the name Manila CityStars.
History
Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League
The nation's capital joined the MPBL for the 2018–19 season, and in its first season, made an instant impact. The team finished 20–5, tying with San Juan and Davao Occidental for the league's third-best record, as the Stars clinch the fourth seed in the 2019 playoffs. After getting past Caloocan in the First Round, they met with the league-leading Bataan Risers in the North Division Semifinals. Although Bataan won game 1, Manila pushed through the next two games to finish the upset and advance to the North Division Finals against San Juan. The series went in a similar way but in the opposite manner, as Manila won game 1 but with San Juan winning the next two to advance to the National Finals and eventually win the championship.
Manila came back stronger for the 2019–20 season, finishing 25–5, clinching the second seed in the 2020 playoffs. The team first beat Pasig in the First Round, but feel short in the Division Semifinals against Makati. Once again, Manila won game 1, yet Makati won the rest of the series.
For the 2021 Invitational, Manila tapped Cholo Villanueva as their head coach, but only finished third in Group D, failing to make the playoffs. Villanueva would later depart for the Batangas City Embassy Chill.[1]
In 2022, the team missed the playoffs for the first time, only getting six wins out of 21 games in the season, finishing 10th of 11 in the North.
Pilipinas Super League
The Stars came to the PSL for the 2022 DUMPER Cup during the MPBL's off-season. Finishing 9–6 in the conference, Manila tied with Boracay and Bulacan for seventh. The team managed to settle for eighth but lost to the San Juan Kings in the Quarterfinals.
Team identity
The name can be traced back to the Manila Metrostars of the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association. The logo of the Stars features silhouettes of some of Manila's historic landmarks, such as the Rizal Monument and Manila Cathedral.
Manila's color scheme has always used blue as the primary color. The secondary color has varied overtime: orange from 2018 to 2019, red from 2019 to 2023, and green since 2023.
Home arenas
The Manila Stars have played all of their home games at San Andres Sports Complex since joining the MPBL. In 2022, a portion of their home slate was played at Paco Arena.
2024 Manila Stars season
