TS Galaxy

Mbombela — still called Nelspruit by many South Africans years after the name changed — is the city TS Galaxy represents, playing out of the 43,500-capacity Mbombela Stadium in black and red at home, white on the road, under the nickname The Rockets.

TS Galaxy was founded in 2015, and its route to the top flight ran through boardrooms as much as results on the pitch: the club bought National First Division status from Cape Town All Stars in 2018, then bought a Premier Soccer League place from Highlands Park in 2020.

TS Galaxy, still in the second division at the time, beat Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 in the 2018/19 Nedbank Cup final — Zakhele Lepasa converting the winning penalty — to become the first club to lift the trophy from outside the top flight. The result hardened a rivalry with Kaizer Chiefs that now sits alongside the Midweek Derby against Mamelodi Sundowns and a further needle with Orlando Pirates.

Adnan Beganović took charge in November 2024 and left in April 2026, with Bernard Parker — otherwise a player-coach with the reserves — stepping in as caretaker; Owen da Gama and Sean Bartlett have also managed the side. The club itself once drew a FIFA transfer ban after failing to pay striker Bernard Yao Kouassi's wages. Keagan Dolly and captain Sipho Maseti lead the current squad, both, like Lepasa and Parker before them, arrivals from elsewhere rather than products of any TS Galaxy academy — the club has none.

Galaxy reached a second Nedbank Cup final in 2025/26 but lost it to Durban City, still without another trophy to set beside 2019.