The De La Salle Green Archers and Lady Archers are the varsity teams representing De La Salle University in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, among other leagues. The "Green Archer" is the traditional university mascot. While the university's teams are collectively referred to as the Green Archers and Lady Archers, each team carries a specific moniker that references the sport that they play. At the high school level, the university is represented by De La Salle Santiago Zobel School's varsity program called the Zobel Junior Archers and Lady Junior Archers.
Athletic history Team identity In 1924, De La Salle College (DLSC) became a pre-war founding member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Irish-American Br. Celba John Lynam, FSC, organized the first La Salle sports teams. The colors of green and white were chosen as the official La Salle colors; green was inspired by the national color of Ireland, where the original founding fathers of the De La Salle Christian Brothers originated from, while white represents the Philippines as the Pearl of the Orient Seas. The pre-war NCAA was the first and oldest collegiate athletic association in the Philippines composed of De La Salle College, San Beda College, University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, Institute of Accounts (now Far Eastern University), National University, Ateneo de Manila, and University of Manila.
La Salle student athletes were first referred to as the Green Archers during the basketball games of NCAA Season 16 (1939–40), where La Salle made its way to the finals and won against their eventual archrival Ateneo in an upset for its first basketball championship title in the seniors' division of the NCAA. Accordingly, the news reporters who were covering La Salle games at that time coined the team the "Green Archers" due in part to the La Salle players' accurate shooting skills. The first Green Archer symbol then appeared in the school's student yearbook publication, Green and White, in 1940, officially becoming the school mascot. The De La Salle Alumni Association (DLSAA) has three official Green Archer mascots – Gordo, Flaco, and Sally. The Green Archer statue standing in the central plaza was done by Ed Castrillo in 1985. It was first exhibited during the celebration of the Diamond Jubilee in 1986.
Monikers While the university's athletic programs uses the Green Archer, each team has differing monikers corresponding to the sport and gender. In addition, for the Zobel Junior Archers, the word junior is added for their teams. The names are listed below. SportMenWomenBoysGirls BasketballGreen Archers Lady ArchersJunior ArchersJunior Lady Archers VolleyballGreen SpikersLady SpikersJunior Green SpikersJunior Lady Spikers Beach volleyballGreen SpikersLady SpikersJunior Green SpikersJunior Lady Spikers FootballGreen BootersLady BootersJunior ArchersNo team BaseballGreen BattersNo teamJunior ArchersNo team SoftballNo teamLady BattersNo team JudoGreen JudokasLady JudokasJunior Green JudokasJunior Lady Judokas TaekwondoGreen JinsLady JinsJunior Green JinsNo team FencingGreen FencersLady FencersJunior Green FencersJunior Lady Fencers SwimmingGreen TankersLady TankersJunior Green TankersJunior Lady Tankers Track and fieldGreen TrackstersLady TrackstersJunior Green TrackstersJunior Lady Tracksters BadmintonGreen ShuttlersLady ShuttlersNo team TennisGreen TennistersLady TennistersNo team Table tennisGreen PaddlersLady PaddlersNo team ChessGreen WoodpushersLady WoodpushersNo team CheerleadingAnimo SquadNo team StreetdanceDance CompanyDance Crew EsportGreen AcesCompetes as Viridis Arcus Esports (VA) outside the UAAPNo team GolfGreen GolfersLady GolfersNo team
Participation history La Salle participated in the NCAA for 57 years from 1924 to 1981, winning five NCAA General Championships in the process (1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78, and 1980–81). La Salle announced its decision to leave the NCAA in a press conference in September 1980, effective after the then ongoing 1980–81 NCAA Season due to a violent basketball game against their archrivals at the time, the Letran Knights. The high school (juniors' division) counterparts were the Greenies from De La Salle College High School until 1967 when the then-high school in Taft Avenue, Manila was phased out and transferred to the La Salle Green Hills (LSGH) campus in Ortigas Avenue, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila. The Greenies had won two General Championships under DLSC. La Salle Green Hills was established in 1959 and was eventually made the high school counterpart of De La Salle College in 1968 and inherited the Greenies moniker. LSGH won eight NCAA General Championships until 1981 when La Salle withdrew from the NCAA.
From 1981 through 1985, the school participated in the Philippine Integrated Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (PICUAA), invitational meets, interclub tournaments, and the National Open. De La Salle University (DLSU) then joined the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) in 1986. La Salle chose the newly established De La Salle Santiago Zobel School (DLSZ) as their UAAP Junior counterpart and adopted the Junior Archers moniker. LSGH was later asked by De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde to compete as their high school junior team in the NCAA when it applied and was accepted in 1998. Ever since joining the UAAP in 1986, DLSU has won three UAAP General Championships – Season 75 (2012–13), Season 76 (2013–14), and Season 78 (2015–16), giving the university a combined eight General Championship titles in the seniors' division in the NCAA and UAAP. Notable Lasallian athletes and alumni are inducted into the DLSAA Sports Hall of Fame.
Sports Basketball La Salle has a total of 29 basketball championship titles in the NCAA and UAAP combined. Under its membership stint in the NCAA, La Salle won 11 championship titles – five under the men's division and six under the juniors' division. In the UAAP, the school has 18 championship titles – 11 in the men's division, five in the women's division, and two in the juniors' division.
Men's basketball
La Salle has five NCAA basketball titles – in 1939, 1947, 1956, 1971, and 1974. The Green Archers won the coveted National Seniors Open Championship, a league participated by top commercial and college teams, twice in 1939 and 1949.– National Open Seniors Champion NCAA 25th Anniversary Souvenir Program, San Juan, Rizal: JCP Publishing, 1949 After bolting out of the NCAA in 1981, it participated in various tournaments. The Green Archers won the 1983 Philippine Amateur Basketball League (PABL) Championship and the 1983 National Open title. La Salle has won three inter-collegiate titles. The school won the 1988 Philippine Intercollegiate Championship. This was later reformatted to become the Collegiate Champions League (CCL), which then became the current Philippine Collegiate Championship League (PCCL), with La Salle winning the championship in 2008 and 2013.
The Green Archers have won 11 UAAP basketball titles – 1989, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2013, 2016, 2023, and 2025. La Salle's basketball program is known for having the most finals appearance with 19, as well as the longest consecutive finals appearance with nine from 1994 to 2002. The program is also known for having won four straight UAAP championship titles from 1998 to 2001. The Green Archers are also known for sharing a rivalry with other competitive teams in the UAAP, especially with the Ateneo Blue Eagles, UST Growling Tigers, and FEU Tamaraws. In UAAP Season 88, the Green Archers became the second fourth seed team to win the title after the NU Bulldogs from UAAP Season 77 in 2014. La Salle dethroned the UP Fighting Maroons during the best-of-three series, having lost Game 2 but won Games 1 and 3.
Before the start of the UAAP season, the Green Archers participate in multiple preseason tournaments. In the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup they have won four titles, the latest being the 2016 championship. The Green Archers participated in the Buddha Light International Association (BLIA) Cup, where they last won the championship in 2017. The Green Archers have also participated in the PBA D-League Aspirants' Cup as EcoOil–La Salle, where they have won three straight championships. In the Pinoyliga Collegiate Cup, the Green Archers won their first title in 2024. In August 2024, the Green Archers swept the 2024 World University Basketball Series in Tokyo, Japan. La Salle has also participated in the AsiaBasket tournaments. In May 2025, the Green Archers won against the Ateneo Blue Eagles to claim the championship of the 2025 AsiaBasket College Campus Tour. In August 2026, the Green Archers swept the University Top League (UTL) tournament in Japan to win the title.
La Salle's basketball program has produced a crop of national players and coaches. Its notable players include Leo Prieto, Ramoncito Campos, Manuel Araneta, Martin Urra, Kurt Bachmann, Lim Eng Beng, Ricardo Brown, Franz Pumaren, Dindo Pumaren, Jun Limpot, Johnedel Cardel, Richard del Rosario, Tonyboy Espinosa, Mark Telan, Jason Webb, Don Allado, Renren Ritualo, Mon Jose, Adonis Santa Maria, Mike Cortez, Willy Wilson, Mark Cardona, Joseph Yeo, Carlo Sharma, Jerwin Gaco, Ryan Arana, TY Tang, JVee Casio, Rico Maierhofer, Simon Atkins, LA Revilla, Almond Vosotros, Arnold Van Opstal, Norbert Torres, Jeron Teng, Thomas Torres, Kib Montalbo, Jason Perkins, Abu Tratter, Ben Mbala, Justine Baltazar, Leonard Santillan, Jamie Malonzo, Evan Nelle, and Kevin Quiambao. Its homegrown Lasallian coaches have included Chito Calvo, Leo Prieto, Tito Eduque, Jong Uichico, Virgil Villavicencio, Gee Abanilla, Juno Sauler, Topex Robinson, and the Pumaren brothers – Derrick, who won DLSU's first back-to-back UAAP basketball championship, Dindo, and Franz, who holds the distinction of having won five UAAP basketball championship titles with his Green Archer teams.
Women's basketball The Lady Archers have won a total of five championship titles. They were UAAP title holders from 1999 through 2002. Their most recent championship was in UAAP Season 76 in 2013.
3x3 basketball The Green Archers won the UAAP Season 85 3x3 basketball tournament in 2023. They retained the title the following year in UAAP Season 86. They won their third consecutive title in UAAP Season 87. In UAAP Season 88, the Green Archers swept the tournament en route to their fourth consecutive championship.
Football La Salle has a total of 67 football championship titles in the NCAA and UAAP combined. Under its membership stint in the NCAA, La Salle won 51 championship titles – 21 under the men's division and 30 under the juniors' division. In the UAAP, the school has 16 championship titles – four in the men's division, 11 in the women's division, and one in the juniors' division.
Men's football De La Salle has the most football championships in Philippine NCAA history, totaling 21 collegiate championships. The high school team has 30 championship trophies. The school's golden era of football was from 1932 through 1940 when La Salle won nine consecutive championships. La Salle was also the NCAA Senior Division champion from 1971 through 1977. Notable players include Roderico Reyes, Joey Veloso, Johnny Sun, Julian "Julep" Lao, Inaki Vicente, Mike Moran, Danny Moran, Dicky Moran, Robs Delfino, Iñaki Alvarez, Ike Monserrat, Babes Tan, Christian Lozano, Alvin Ocampo, Jose Pons, and Albe Aparilla. The Juniors team was champion from 1937 to 1941 and from 1971 through 1976. The school was NCAA double champions in both Junior and Senior divisions from 1937 through 1940. La Salle was also the NCAA double champion in both Junior and Senior divisions from 1971 through 1976. DLSU left the NCAA after the 1980–81 Season and eventually transferred to the UAAP.