Ben Mbala

Benoit Mbala (born July 13, 1995) is a Cameroonian professional basketball player for Champagne Basket of the LNB Pro B. He played college basketball in the Philippines, playing for the SWU Cobras of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (CESAFI) and the De La Salle Green Archers of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

Early life and career Mbala is a native of Yaoundé, Cameroon. He was first into football until the age of 13 when he grew about 6 feet 2 inches tall and switched to playing basketball. His older brother who manages the junior team of their municipality urged him to play for the team. He attended Institute Ndi Samba for his high school studies and made attempts to join his school's varsity team on his first two years. He continued to play for his municipality's team and managed to play for his high school in his last two years of secondary education.

Mbala participated twice at an annual national basketball camp organized by Luc Mbah a Moute. He failed in his goal of making the All-Star Selection on his first year of participation but achieved it on his second try when he was chosen as one of the top 20 players of the camp. He was further declared as one of the top five players of the Mbah a Moute's camp, which gave him the opportunity to participate in the Basketball Without Borders camp in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2011.

College career Southwestern University Moustapha Arafat, a former player of the University of the East in Manila At the 2012 Philippine Collegiate Champions League he led the Cobras to a fourth-place finish, scoring 41 points in an upset win against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Growling Tigers.

As a transfer student, Mbala had to sit out two years as part of his residency. An additional one-year ban was imposed on him by the UAAP after he played at the Pacquiao Challenge Cup in December 2014, where he was compensated monetarily, which was against the collegiate league's rules for players serving residency which caused him not to play for his school at UAAP Season 78. and led the team to an 8–0 record halfway through the tournament and was the favorite to become the first foreigner to win the MVP Award since Anthony Williams of the FEU Tamaraws bagging the award in 1981

On 22 December 2017, Mbala announced his decision to not use his final year of eligibility and leave La Salle after five years. Mbala had one year of eligibility left to play for De La Salle in Season 81.

Professional career Fuerza Regia (2017–2018) Two days before Mbala announced his intention to leave La Salle, Fuerza Regia already announced via Instagram that Mbala will play for them. Mbala had a one-month stint with Fuerza Regia. According to his own account, Mbala was hindered by his veteran teammates while with Fuerza which made him unhappy with his stay with the Mexican ball club.

Chorale Roanne (2018) French ballclub Chorale Roanne of LNB Pro B announced they have signed Mbala mid-January 2018. For Roanne, Mbala played 25 games where he averaged 11.6 points on 54 percent shooting and made an average of 5.6 rebounds per game. Mbala was made a role player in Chorale Roanne and was offered a contract renewal. However Mbala decided to move to South Korea after accepting an offer from the Seoul Samsung Thunders.

Aix Maurienne Savoie Basket (2018–2019) Mbala returned to France in late 2018 signing up for Aix Maurienne Savoie Basket which plays in the second tier of French basketball.

Limoges CSP (2019–2021) On July 11, 2019, he has signed with CSP Limoges of the LNB Pro A.

Aix Maurienne Savoie Basket (2021–2022) January 2021, Limoges and Ben Mbala mutually decided to end their contract. Ben returned to the club where he got his French exposure : Aix Maurienne Savoie Basket.

OGM Ormanspor (2022–2023) On August 26, 2022, he has signed with OGM Ormanspor of the TBL.

National team career The Cameroon Basketball Federation sent a letter to Mbala in June 2016 inviting him to participate in a training camp in Yaounde, Cameroon and two tournaments in China as preparation of the Cameroon national basketball team's participation at the 2017 FIBA Africa Championship. As of that time, there were no rules in the UAAP preventing players to play for their national teams. While expressing gratitude for the invitation, Mbala declined as he did not want to risk his eligibility to play in the UAAP and had to maintain academic requirements to remain playing for his collegiate team.

It was announced on February 5, 2017, that the Cameroon national team has included Mbala in their 30-man pool for the qualifiers and main tournament of the 2017 FIBA Africa Championship. He played for the national team in the aforementioned continental tournament.

Awards On January 26, 2017, Mbala was named the Smart College Player of the Year Award at the Collegiate Basketball Awards.