For decades, football has sat comfortably on Tanzania’s sporting throne. The passion surrounding Simba SC, Young Africans and the Taifa Stars has made the beautiful game almost impossible to challenge. But another sport is beginning to make some serious noise.
Across Dar es Salaam and beyond, basketball is attracting stronger commercial backing and new legions of players and fans. Earlier in 2026 when we saw Dar City became the first Tanzanian club to compete in the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Suddenly, Tanzania’s basketball story was no longer just about bragging rightes between friends. Tanzanian basketball is turning heads and inspiring crossover dribbles on one of Africa’s biggest basketball stages.
Dar City Opens the Door to Africa
Game play in Tanzania has now started to pick up, with fans in Dar es Salaam and other regions attending basketball games in numbers and following the latest news and odds at the best betting sites in Tanzania listed on Bettingtop10. Corporate companies are also slowly waking up to basketball and sponsoring teams. Players are also becoming more ambitious in their games, and the dream of going continental is now becoming a reality.
Dar City made Tanzanian Basketball history when they became the first-ever Tanzanian team to take part in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) in the year 2026. Dar City were no beginners to the basketball game, though. They had won back-to-back NBL titles in 2024 and 2025. Qualifying for the BAL was just a testimony of how good they were domestically.
The Tanzanian champions dominated the Johannesburg Giants with a comfortable 100-70 victory. They also pulled off an exciting 90-85 win over Nairobi City Thunder in Kenya. Those two wins helped them finish fourth on the table to book a spot in the knockout stages of the competition.
BAL quarter-finalists Dar City ended their debut campaign by losing to Petro de Luanda of Angola, but did the country of Tanzania proud.
Rise up young Ballers
Dar City will now return to Tanzania as heroes, inspiring a whole generation of young basketball players to aim for the stars. They have now shown what can be possible should you set your mind to it.
“We knew what was at stake,” Head Coach Derrick Whites said after leading his team to the Basketball Africa League. “Not only for ourselves but for basketball in Tanzania.”
BAL gave Tanzanian basketball players the chance to watch their local league players represent the country on one of the biggest stages in African Basketball. Young boys and girls watching the BAL will now know that they can make it there if they put in the hard work. Local basketball players can also gauge where they stand in comparison to some of the best teams on the continent. For basketball to grow, investments and sponsorships have got to come through. And thank goodness, they are.
Hasheem Thabeet Wants a Basketball Explosion
Plans for a modern Basketball Arena in Kawe were also reiterated by Sports Minister Paul Makonda as Dar City prepared to take on their BAL campaign. Building a fully fledged basketball ecosystem
For basketball to take root in Tanzania, key things need to happen.
Grassroots development has to take place. Proper courts, hoops, and professional training have to be made available to young hopefuls if the sport is to grow. There is also a need to spread the Basketball Dar es Salaam league to other regions in the country. Activities such as these are currently being looked into by none other than Tanzania’s own NBA alumnus Hasheem Thabeet. From Yao Ming to Hasheem Thabeet- the tallest players to ever play in the NBA.
Hasheem currently serves as president of the Tanzania Basketball Federation and has big plans for basketball in Tanzania. One of the plans is to expand the basketball game across all regions of Tanzania, not just limit it to Dar es Salaam. He says Tanzanians love basketball and all that is needed is to invest in the game.
“Our dream is to make basketball one of the biggest games in Tanzania just like football.” Said Hasheem Thabeet
Football is still King… For Now
Dar City may have made history in basketball, but football is still King in Tanzania. Football clubs like Young Africans, Simba SC and AZM are household names in the country. There is also the Taifa Stars, who bring the whole country together whenever they play.
Basketball still has a lot of growing to do before it scores the ultimage goal against football. Steps are being taken in the right direction, and if they continue, we might just see basketball take fans by storm in the years to come.
