The Composition of South African Football
South African Premier Division
The Premier Soccer League was founded in 1996, as a merger between the National Premier Soccer League and the National Soccer League. The Premier Division is the current top league in South Africa, with the winner being crowned as the national champion. The league is made up of 16 teams, all of which are professional. At the end of each season one team is automatically relegated to the National First Division, a second team may also be relegated through a play-off. The relegated teams are replaced by one or two teams from the National First Division.
National First Division
The National First Division is the current second tier in South African football. The league is made up of 16 teams, which are either professional or semi-professional. The league is governed and controlled by the same body which runs the Premier Soccer League. The league winner is automatically promoted the Premier Soccer League at the end of the season. Another highly placed team may also be promoted through a play-off. At the end of the season two bottom clubs are relegated, and replaced by two play-off winners from the Vodacom League.
SAFA Second Division
The SAFA Second Division is the third tier of South African football, and the highest tier directly controlled by the South African Football
SAB Regional League
The SAB Regional League is the fourth tier of South African football, and the second highest tier controlled by the South African Football
LFA Football League
Leagues below the SAB Regional League are controlled by SAFA's Local FootballAssociations. The number of teams and leagues at this level can vary greatly depending on the area and the population. Teams in these leagues are almost always amateur.
Youth Football Leagues
There are several different youth football leagues, organised along geographic lines. The main youth competition is the U19 National League, run along localfootball association lines.
Tertiary Football
Most universities in South Africa include footba
The two largest university football
The University of the Witwatersrand and University of Pretoria each run professional clubs, Bidvest Wits and Tuks F.C., which play on their campuses and campaign in the South African Premier Division. Maluti FET College F.C. competes in the National First Division.
Schools Football
There are also several leagues for high school and junior school football teams, however many private and former model c schools have chosen not to includefootball programs. The largest schools football tournament is the Kay Motsepe Cup.
Cup competitions
The Nedbank Cup is South Africa's main football cup, and is modeled on England's FA Cup. The cup is open to teams from the Premier Soccer League down to the SAB Regional Leagues.
The Telkom Knockout is the country's League Cup, and open only to PSL teams.
The MTN 8 is a Super Cup and played between the top eight finishers from the previous season's PSL.
The Baymed Cup is a defunct cup competition, which was open to National First Division sides.
The SAFA Second Division, currently known as ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons, and previously known as theVodacom League between 1998-2012, was founded in 1998 as the current Second Division and the overall third tier of South Africanfootball. The competition is regulated by SAFA, and until 2012 had been sponsored by mobile telecommunications company Vodacom.
Currently it features 144 teams in total, divided into 9 divisions, borderly decided by the 9 geo-political provinces of South Africa: Eastern Cape,Free State, KwaZulu Natal, Northern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng,Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West. This means, that each Provincial division contains 16 teams as standard. The winner of each Provincial division qualifies for the annual Promotional Play-offs, where the winners of two streams, will get promoted to the National First Division. In each Province, the two lowest ranked teams by the end of the season, will be relegated to U21 SAB Regional League, which in return will promote two play-off winners from the Regional Championships.
An important rule to note, is that all clubs in South Africa also are allowed to compete with youth teams (U19/U21) and/or a Reserve team in a lower SAFA league. If a club opt to field such teams, the U19 teams will start out at the fifth level in theU19 National League, while U21 teams or Reserve teams will start out at the fourth level in the U21 SAB Regional League. If any U19 team win promotion for U21 SAB Regional League or SAFA Second Division, this promotion is fully accepted. No club are however entitled to field two teams at the same level, and rule 4.6.4 of the SAFA regulations states, that if the mother club play in the National First Division or Premier Soccer League, then the highest level these additional Youth/Reserve teams are allowed to compete, will be the SAFA Second Division. In such cases, where a non-promotable team manage to win their regional division, the ticket for the promotional playoffs will instead be handed over to the second best team in the division.
In the 2010–11 season these promotional restrictions mean, that: Ajax Cape Town U19, Bay Academy, Bid Boys, Celtic Colts, SuperSport T.H. Academy and Mitchells Plain United, were all accepted to play in the league, but without any possibility of further promotion.
In March 2014, the Motsepe Foundation signed a five year deal for the naming rights of the competition worth 40,000,000ZAR. Patrice Motsepe named the competition in honour of his late father, Augustine Butana Chaane Motsepe.
National Teams
The South Africa senior national football team or Bafana Bafana (a Zulu term of endearment which means the boys, the boys) is the national team of South Africa and is controlled by the South African Football Association (SAFA).
They returned to the world stage in 1992, after years of being banned by FIFA due to the apartheid system.
The team has played at seven Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, winning once. The team has also played at three FIFA World Cups including, 1998 in France and 2002 in South Korea and Japan. South Africa became the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup when it hosted the 19th FIFA World Cup in June 2010. The team's Siphiwe Tshabalala was also the first person to score in this World Cup during the opening game against Mexico. Despite defeating France 2-1 in their final game of the group stage, they failed to progress from the first round of the tournament, becoming the first host nation to do so. South Africa had hosted the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009. The team's highest achievement was winning the Africa Cup of Nations at home in 1996.
The men's team also plays matches in the COSAFA Cup and African Nations Championship.
The women's senior national team (Banyana Banyana), has played at nine African Women's Championships and had a best finish of second place, which it accomplished four times, most recently in 2012. The team played at home during the 2010 African Women's Championship, and finished in third place, the third time South Africa has hosted the competition.
Junior teams
There are three men's youth teams:
Amaglug-glug (under 23)
Amajita (under 20)
Amajimbos (under 17)
Tsetse-flies (under 12)Flying Birds (under 15)
and women's youth teams:
Basetsana (under 20)
Bantwana (under 17)
Women (under 23)
Women (under 23)
International tournaments
South Africa has hosted a number of large scale football tournaments. These include:
1994 COSAFA U-17 Cup
1996 African Cup of Nations
1999 All-Africa Games Football tournament
1999 COSAFA U-20 Cup
1999 UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup
2000 African Women's Championship
2000 COSAFA U-20 Cup
2001 COSAFA U-17 Cup
2001 COSAFA U-20 Cup
2002 COSAFA U-17 Cup
2002 COSAFA U-20 Cup
2003 COSAFA U-20 Cup
2004 African Women's Championship
2004 COSAFA U-20 Cup
2005 COSAFA U-20 Cup
2005 COSAFA Cup (co-host)
2006 COSAFA U-20 Cup
2007 COSAFA U-20 Cup
2007 COSAFA Cup (co-host)
2008 COSAFA U-20 Cup
2008 COSAFA Cup
2009 FIFA Confederations Cup
2009 COSAFA U-20 Cup
2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 African Women's Championship
2011 African Youth Championship
2013 Africa Cup of Nations
2014 CHAN
2015 COSAFA Cup
South African players abroad
While most South African footballers play for local clubs, some professional players play in other countries.
The following is a list of South Africans playing in foreign leagues:
In Australia's A-League
Storm Roux (Central Coast Mariners)
Devon Spence (Perth Glory)
In Australia's Queensland State League
Jonti Richter (Brisbane Strikers)
In Belgium's Pro League
Darren Keet (Kortrijk)
Anele Ngcongca (Racing Genk)
Ayanda Patosi (Lokeren)
In Belgium's Second Division
Phakamani Mngadi (Eupen)
Msilo Modubi (Dessel Sport)
Ntuthuko Radebe (Eupen)
In Botswana's Premier League
Kaelo Kgaswane (Gaborone United)
Manqoba Ngwenya (Notwane FC)
Benedict Vilakazi (Notwane FC)
In Brazil's Brasileirão
Tyrone Sandows (São Paulo)
In Czech Republic's 2. Liga
Miguel Van Oudtshoorn (Bohemians Prague)
In Denmark's Superliga
Lebogang Phiri (Brøndby)
In England's Premier League
Steven Pienaar (Everton)
In England's Championship
Kagisho Dikgacoi (Cardiff City)
Tokelo Rantie (AFC Bournemouth)
Andrew Surman (AFC Bournemouth) (on loan from Norwich City)
In England's League One
Darren Holden (Hartlepool United F.C.)
Kgosi Ntlhe (Peterborough United)
In England's Conference South
Justin Miller (Chelmsford City)
In England's Northern Premier League Premier Division
Clive Moyo-Modise (Ashton United)
In Finland's Veikkausliiga
Cheyne Fowler (HJK Helsinki)
Leroy Maluka (Turun Palloseura)
In Hong Kong's First Division League
Scelo Zuma (Rangers)
In Israel's Premier League
Danny Amos (Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona)
Dino Ndlovu (Maccabi Haifa)
In Italy's Serie A
Joel Untersee (Juventus)
In Malaysia's Premier League
Philani Kubheka (Negeri Sembilan FA)
In Mozambique's Moçambola
Nkululeko Mkhize (Costa do Sol)
Mfiki Mthimkhulu (Clube Ferroviário da Beira)
In the Netherlands's Eredivisie
Thulani Serero (Ajax)
Kamohelo Mokotjo (PEC Zwolle)
Dean Patricio (PEC Zwolle)
Miguel Dias (footballer born in 1997) (PEC Zwolle)
Nhlakanipho Ntuli (FC Twente)
In New Zealand's Football Championship
Ryan De Vries (Waitakere United)
In Northern Cyprus' Birinci Lig
Jeffery Makoti (Bostancı Bağcıl)
Gert Schalkwyk (Bostancı Bağcıl)
In Poland's Ekstraklasa
Daylon Claasen (Lech Poznań)
In Portugal's Primeira Liga
Sergio Marakis (Maritimo)
In Scotland's Championship
Kyle Jacobs (Queen of the South)
In Scotland's League One
Jonathan Brown (Brechin City)
Michael Travis (Arbroath)
In Scotland's League Two
Devon Jacobs (Berwick Rangers)
In Slovakia's Super League
Ricardo Nunes (MSK Zilina)
In Swaziland's Premier League
Dumisani Kunene (Manzini Wanderers)
Vusi Madinane (Malanti Chiefs)
Jabulani Matu (Manzini Sundowns)
Tebogo Motale (Malanti Chiefs)
Sihle Ndaba (Malanti Chiefs)
Myron Shongwe (RSSC United)
In Sweden's Allsvenskan
May Mahlangu (Helsingborgs IF)
Sive Pekezela (Gefle IF)
Xolani Mdaki (Djurgardens IF) (On Loan from Mamelodi Sundowns)
Junaid Sait (Falkenbergs FF)
In Sweden's Superettan
Ayanda Nkili (Örebro SK)
Phathizwe Sacolo (IFK Värnamo)
Amethyst Bradley Ralani (Landskrona BoIS)
In Sweden's Division 1
Vaughan Miller (Motala)
In Switzerland's Challenge League
Lukas Schenkel (AC Bellinzona)
In Thailand's Premier League
Makhosonke Bhengu (Pattaya United)
In the USA's Major League Soccer
Ethan Sampson (Vancouver Whitecaps FC)
In the USA's North American Soccer League
Tiyiselani Shipalane (Carolina RailHawks)
Jonathan Greenfield (San Antonio Scorpions)
In the USA's USL Professional Division
Stephen Armstrong (Charleston Battery)
Thabiso Khumalo (Pittsburgh Riverhounds)
Mpho Moloi (Harrisburg City Islanders)
In Vietnam's First Division
Diyo Sibisi (Fico Tây Ninh)
In Wales' Premier League
Steven Cann (Carmarthen Town A.F.C.)
There are many other South African players who have played abroad; or could be currently playing abroad or could have moved to other foreign clubs who not on the list. Some are now playing in South Africa and others have retired.
