Stellenbosch Football Club is a South African professional

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 ...

club founded in 2016 following the relocation of

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

F.C. to Stellenbosch,

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

. It is the first

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

(PSL) team to be based in Stellenbosch, and plays home games at

Danie Craven Stadium The Danie Craven Stadium is a rugby union stadium in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Built in 1979, it is part of the Stellenbosch University's sport facilities. The stadium was named after rugby doyen and Springbok scrum half Danie Craven. The stad ...

and

Idas Valley Stadium Idas Valley Stadium is a sports venue in Stellenbosch, South Africa, and an alternative home ground of Stellenbosch F.C. Stellenbosch F.C. and the local municipality worked in conjunction to get the stadium up to the required standard for the ...

History

The club was formed in August 2016 when the Premier Soccer League Executive Committee approved the application from National First Division side, Vasco Da Gama for a name change following the relocation from Parow to th
Stellenbosch Academy of Sport
(SAS) in Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch F.C.'s first National First Division game was played on August 28, 2016. Stanley Muishond scored the first goal in team history in a 3–1 loss to Mthatha Bucks. On 1 December 2016, Stellenbosch confirmed that Steve Barker had joined Sammy Troughton in a joint-coach position. The Cape Winelands side finished their inaugural season in third, clinching the final promotion/relegation playoff spot by one point. However, Stellies finished last in the mini-league. Following an unsuccessful attempt to gain promotion to the

Absa Premiership The South African Premier Division, officially referred to as the DStv Premiership for sponsorship purposes, is the premier men's professional sports, professional association football, football/soccer league and the highest division in the leag ...

Stellenbosch parted ways with head coach Sammy Troughton. In 2017, Stellenbosch's second season, the team recorded ten wins and ten losses in the thirty matches of the season. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishing eighth. In August 2018, the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport purchased Stellenbosch Football Club. The final round of the

2018–19 National First Division The 2018–19 National First Division was the season from August 2018 to May 2019 of South Africa's second tier of professional soccer, the National First Division. Stellenbosch FC were crowned champions on the final day, following a 0–0 draw wi ...

season saw Steve Barker's Stellenbosch F.C. confirm their title victory – and promotion to the Absa Premiership (now

DSTv Premiership The South African Premier Division, officially referred to as the DStv Premiership for sponsorship purposes, is the premier men's professional football/soccer league and the highest division in the league system of South Africa, organized since ...

) – with a 0–0 draw at home to Maccabi F.C. On 25 October 2020, Stellenbosch F.C. made history by playing the first PSL game (against

Moroka Swallows F.C. Moroka Swallows Football Club (often known as simply Swallows or The Birds) is a South African professional football club based in Soweto in the city of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province. Founded in 1947, Swallows are one of the original two ...

) at the

. This stadium is traditionally a rugby stadium and, as of 2020, is one of the two venues for Stellenbosch F.C. home games in Stellenbosch. DSTv Diski Challenge matches are played at

, while DStv Premiership games are played at the Danie Craven Stadium. The Chief Operating Officer at the club, Rob Benadie stated "The name 'Stellenbosch FC' shows our intention of creating a club that symbolises the Cape Winelands community. We are on a pathway of building something special‚ and we want to take this community with us." The crest of the club features a bunch of grapes, as Stellenbosch is based within the

Cape Winelands District Municipality The Cape Winelands District Municipality, formerly the Boland District Municipality, is a district municipality located in the Boland region of the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 787,490. The largest tow ...

Current squad

Honours

* Next Gen Cup: ** Winners:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

*
Premier Soccer League
{{Authority control Soccer clubs in South Africa Association football clubs established in 2016 National First Division clubs 2016 establishments in South Africa Stellenbosch