The Botswana Premier League, currently known as the BTC Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

league in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

. Organised by the

Botswana Football Association The Botswana Football Association (BFA) is the governing body of association football in Botswana, and controls the national football team. It is an affiliate of FIFA, CAF and the COSAFA. National football leagues include the beMOBILE Premier ...

, the league was formed in 1978 to replace the pre-independence

Bechuanaland Union African Soccer League The Bechuanaland Union African Soccer League is a former professional football league which from 1949 to 1977 served as the top tier division in the Botswana football league system. The league was created as a merger of the Southern Protectora ...

, which was regional. Participants in the first edition of the league included

Tlokweng Pirates Tlokweng is a peri-urban settlement classified as an urban village located east of the capital of Botswana, Gaborone and falling under the jurisdiction of South East District Council. It can be considered part of the conurbation of Gaborone. ...

, Notwane, Black Peril,

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

and a team from Ngwaketse district. The league has always been dominated by the teams that are based south of Dibete or at the southern part of the country until the 2006–07 season when Ecco City Greens made history by becoming the first team from the north to lift the lucrative competition. The league is sponsored by a mobile phone operator Be Mobile to the tune of 30 million pula. After the ABSA premiership in South Africa, the Be Mobile league is the second highest sponsored league in the COSAFA region. The league has continued to grow in leaps and bounds as shown by the increasing number of foreign players in the BPL. Some top players from mainly

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

like Arnold Chaka,

Master Masitara Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans * Grandmaster (chess), National Maste ...

, Elvis Meleka, Mandla Sibanda, Sageby Sandaka and Tendai Ndoro have ditched the Zimbabwean PSL for the BPL in recent years. Recently Namibian stars like Jerome Luis and

Benson Shilongo Benson Shilongo (born 18 May 1992) is a Namibian professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American footba ...

arrived in Botswana in search of the Pula. After terminating their television deal with a South African company RP Productions, the league is now negotiating a long term deal with Supersport International. In early 2013, the pay TV shown five BPL games on a testing basis.

Sponsorship

Since the 1980s the Botswana Premier League has been sponsored. The sponsors have been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. The list below details who the sponsors were and what they called the league: * 1991–2001:

Castle Lager Castle Lager is a South African pale lager. It is the flagship product of South African Breweries and has been recognised as the National Beer of South Africa , based on the fact that it is 100% grown and produced in the country, and for its abil ...

(Castle Super League) * 2002–05:

St Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

(St Louis Premiership) * 2006–08: Mascom (Mascom Premiership) * 2009–13: be Mobile (be Mobile Premiership) * 2010–present: BTC (BTC Premiership)

Format

During the league, from August to May, each club plays each of the other teams twice; once at home and once away, totaling 30 games for each team by the end of the season. Therefore, in Botswana football a true round-robin format is used. In the first half of the season, each team plays once against each league opponent, for a total of 15 games. In the second half of the season, the teams play in exactly the same order that they did in the first half of the season, the only difference being that home and away situations are switched. Since the 1994–95 season, teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Since Botswana is lowly ranked in the CAF rankings only one

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

spot is awarded to the league champions. The cup winners gain a spot in the

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football club competition established in 2004 from a merger of the CAF Cup and the African Cup Winners' Cup and organi ...

. Since the 2005–06 season if two or more teams end the league with the same number of points, the deciding tie-breakers used are (in order): #Head-to-head records; #

Goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

of head-to-head records; #Goal difference of league; #Most

goals A goal is an objective that a person or a system plans or intends to achieve. Goal may also refer to: Sport * Goal (sports), a method of scoring in many sports, or the physical structure or area where scoring occurs ** Goals, the goal frame in ...

for in league; #Draw

Broadcasting rights

the

is the one which negotiates the broadcasting rights with broadcasters. Starting from 2002–03 until 2012–13 the broadcasting rights were held by the state broadcaster

Botswana Television Botswana Television (also known as BTV and Botswana TV) is the national broadcaster in Botswana. Botswana's first national television service started in 2000 following a 1997 government decision. The station delivers thirteen hours of local and in ...

(BTV) and its radio partner

Radio Botswana Radio Botswana- ''abbr'' RB1 is a radio station in Botswana operated by the Government of Botswana in the capital city Gaborone. The Radio station provides news, current affairs about the country Botswana, the culture of Botswana, education and ...

(RB1). The state broadcaster was paying P5 million per season for the rights. Broadcasting of the games was irregular as the TV showed majority of games played in and around Gaborone citing poor quality stadiums in the north. Two weekend games are shown live on TV, with midweek games being delayed.

SuperSport deal

In 2013 there was major excitement when South African broadcasting giant entered the local market. The deal saw the state broadcaster temporarily losing the rights, as a few games were shown on pay-per-view. However it was short lived as SuperSport and the BFA parted their ways. Broadcasting resumed normally on BTV and RB1.

Hourlies

Since 1980 all BPL games have been played at the same times. On Saturday most are played 15:00 pm CAT on winter and 16:00 pm CAT in summer. Few games are played at night due to poor lighting in most stadiums. In Sunday all games are played at 15:00 pm CAT or 16:00 pm CAT depending on the season. Most in midweek games are played at 19:00 pm CAT.

Current season clubs (2022−23)

Champions

Previous champions are: *1966: ''Not known'' *1967:

Gaborone United Gaborone United Sporting Club (GU) is a football club from Botswana based in Gaborone. It is the only professional sporting club in Botswana. Its official sponsor is Bank Gaborone, who signed a three-year deal at the beginning of the 2022-23 seaso ...

*1968: ''Not known'' *1969:

*1970:

*1971–77: ''Not known'' *1978: Notwane PG *1979:

Township Rollers Township Rollers Football Club is a football club based in Gaborone, Botswana. Rollers are also known as Popa, The Blues or Tse Tala, the official nicknames of the club. The club is also often referred to as Mapalastina, a nickname that develop ...

*1980:

*1981:

Botswana Defence Force XI Botswana Defence Force XI Football Club is a football club from Botswana based in Mogoditshane and playing home games in Gaborone. It is the club of the Botswana Defence Force, being composed mostly of military players. As of 2007, players were e ...

*1982:

*1983:

*1984:

*1985:

*1986:

*1987:

*1988:

*1989:

*1990:

*1991:

*1992: LCS Extension Gunners *1993: LCS Extension Gunners *1994: LCS Extension Gunners *1995:

*1996: Notwane PG *1997:

*1998: Notwane PG *1999:

Mogoditshane Fighters Mogoditshane Fighters are a football (soccer) club from the Mogoditshane in Botswana. The club's nickname is "The Brazilians". Achievements *Mascom Premier League The Botswana Premier League, currently known as the BTC Premiership for spo ...

*1999–00:

*2000–01:

*2001–02:

*2003:

*2003–04:

*2004–05:

*2005–06:

Police XI Botswana Police XI Sporting Club is a football (soccer) club from Botswana based in village of Otse southern of Gaborone. Achievements *Botswana Premier League : 1 ::2006 * Botswana FA Cup : 1 ::1983 Performance in CAF competitions *CAF Champi ...

*2006–07:

ECCO City Green ECCO City Greens FC is a football club from Botswana based in Francistown. Honours *Mascom Premier League The Botswana Premier League, currently known as the BTC Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level Association football ...

s *2007–08:

Mochudi Centre Chiefs Mochudi Centre Chiefs Sporting Club are a professional football club based in Gaborone, Botswana, who play in the Botswana first division following their relegation from the Premier League in 2019. Centre Chiefs have won the Botswana Premier Leag ...

*2008–09:

*2009–10:

*2010–11:

*2011–12:

*2012–13:

*2013–14:

* 2014–15:

* 2015–16:

* 2016–17:

* 2017–18:

* 2018–19:

* 2019-20:

Jwaneng Galaxy Jwaneng Galaxy Football Club is a Botswana football club based in Jwaneng. The club currently plays in the Botswana Premier League. History Galaxy were founded in 2015 after two local clubs merged: the Jwaneng Comets and the Debswana Youngsters. ...

*2020–21: ''Not held'' * 2021-22:

Past seasons

Manager records

League winning managers

Coach of the Season

Performance By Club

Topscorers

Player of the Season

References

External links

League at fifa.comhttp://www.yeswefoot.com/botswana/Botswana Premier League summary
SOCCERWAY) {{CAF Leagues Football competitions in Botswana

1966 establishments in Botswana