Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, or soccer, as it is typically called in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, is the nation's most popular sport and

South Africa national soccer team The South Africa national soccer team represents South Africa in men's international soccer and it is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for Soccer in South Africa. The team's nickname is Bafana Bafana (The Boy ...

(Bafana Bafana) is the nation's favourite sports team followed by

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

. The governing body is the South African Football Association (SAFA), while the

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 ...

is the organisation responsible for running the country's two professional divisions, namely the

South African Premier Division 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 sinc ...

and the

National First Division The National First Division (NFD), officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African club football after the South African Premier Division. Both the NFD and South Afr ...

. The main cup competitions are the

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's premier club soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of giving lower league and amateur teams a chance t ...

Telkom Knockout The Telkom Knockout was a South African professional football knockout competition which comprised the 16 teams in the South African Premier Soccer League. The competition was established in 1982 and was first known as the Datsun Challenge. Unde ...

, and the MTN 8 Cup.

History

Soccer first arrived in

through colonialism in the late nineteenth century, as the game was popular among British soldiers. From the earliest days of the sport in South Africa until the end of apartheid, organised soccer was affected by the country's system of racial segregation. The all-white Football Association of South Africa (FASA), was formed in 1892, while the South African

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Football Association (SAIFA), the South African Bantu Football Association (SABFA) and the South African Coloured Football Association (SACFA) were founded in 1903, 1933 and 1936 respectively. South african fa 1906

In 1903 the SAFA re-affiliated with the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

after the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

between the British Empire and the Boer states. There was a plan to play a tournament held in Argentina, with South Africa and Fulham as guest teams, but it was not carried out. Nevertheless, South Africa traveled to South America in 1906 to play a series of friendly matches there.Before The 'D'...Association Football around the world, 1863-1937
page 4 South Africa played a total of 12 matches in South America, winning 11 with 60 goals scored and only 7 conceded. Some of the rivals were Belgrano A.C., Argentina national team, a Liga Rosarina combined, Estudiantes (BA) and

Quilmes Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the south east of the Greater Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and it is the seat of the eponymous county. With a population of 230,810, it is located south of the ...

. The only team that could beat South Africa was Argentine

Alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

by 1–0 at Sociedad Sportiva stadium of Buenos Aires, on 24 June, although the South African would take revenge on 22 July, defeating Alumni by 2–0.''Historia del Fútbol Amateur en la Argentina'' by Jorge Iwanczuk. Publisher: Autores Editores (1992) – Alumni v sudafrica 1906

The players were exclusively white, civil servants, government employees, bankers and civil engineers. Seven of the 15 players were born in South Africa and 8 originated from England and Scotland. South Africa was one of four African nations to attend FIFA's 1953 congress, at which the four demanded, and won, representation on the FIFA executive committee.Goldblatt, ''The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football'', p493 Thus the four nations (South Africa,

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

and Sudan) founded the Confederation of African Football in 1956, and the South African representative, Fred Fell, sat at the first meeting as a founding member. It soon became clear however that South Africa's constitution prohibited racially mixed teams from competitive sport and so they could only send either an all-black side or an all-white side to the planned

1957 African Cup of Nations The 1957 African Cup of Nations was the first edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). Hosted by Sudan, participating teams were Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. Overview South Africa was drawn to play E ...

. This was unacceptable to the other members of the Confederation and South Africa were disqualified from the competition, however some sources say that they withdrew voluntarily. At the second CAF conference in 1958 South Africa were formally expelled from CAF. The all-white (FASA) were admitted to FIFA in the same year, but in August 1960 it was given an ultimatum of one year to fall in line with the non-discriminatory regulations of FIFA. On 26 September 1961 at the annual FIFA conference, the South African association was formally suspended from FIFA.

Sir Stanley Rous Sir Stanley Ford Rous (25 April 1895 – 18 July 1986) was an English football referee and the 6th President of FIFA, serving from 1961 to 1974. He also served as secretary of the Football Association from 1934 to 1962 and was an international ...

, president of

of England and a champion of South Africa's FIFA membership, was elected FIFA President a few days later. Rous was adamant that sport, and FIFA in particular, should not embroil itself in political matters and against fierce opposition he continued to resist attempts to expel South Africa from FIFA. The suspension was lifted in January 1963 after a visit to South Africa by Rous in order to investigate the state of soccer in the country. Rous declared that if the suspension were not lifted, soccer there would be discontinued, possibly to the point of no recovery. The next annual conference of FIFA in October 1964 took place in Tokyo and was attended by a larger contingent of representatives from African and Asian associations and here the suspension of South Africa's membership was re-imposed. In 1976, after the Soweto uprising, they were formally expelled from FIFA.

was suspended by FIFA from 1961 to 1992 because of the country's apartheid policies, banning the country from international competition (including the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

), and severely stunting the growth of the domestic game. In 1991, when the apartheid system was beginning to be demolished, a new multi-racial South African Football Association was formed, and admitted to FIFA. On 7 July 1992, the South African national team played their first game in two decades, beating

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

1–0. Since the integration of the country, it has developed the most sophisticated professional soccer structure in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, the

. South Africa qualified for the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and 2002

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, but failed to progress past the group stage both times. They hosted (and won) the

1996 African Cup of Nations The 1996 African Cup of Nations was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who replaced original hosts Kenya. The field expanded for the first time to 16 teams, ...

and hosted the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, the first

n nation to do so.

South African soccer leagues structure

South African football leagues relationship chart

Football association

The first non-racial, singular football association in

was formed in 1991, and named the South African Football Association (SAFA). Previously, there had been a number of different, racially divided football bodies. These bodies, the Football Association of South Africa, the South African Soccer Association, the South African Soccer Federation and the South African National Football Association came together to form SAFA on 8 December 1991. SAFA was given observer status at the Confederation of African Football in January 1992. The association was accepted into FIFA in June 1992, allowing its teams to play international matches. SAFA currently control all national soccer teams, and most soccer leagues in South Africa. The notable exceptions are the

and the

, the top two leagues in the country. The leagues are controlled by the National Soccer League, which also controls most major cup competitions.

League system

South Africa has a number of different soccer leagues, controlled by different organisations. The top two leagues are professional or semi-professional, and run by the PSL. The lower leagues are mostly amateur, and run by SAFA.

South African Premier Division

The Premier Soccer League was founded in 1996, as a merger between the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially affiliated to the Uni ...

and the National Soccer League. The Premier Division is the current top league in

, 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

, 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 soccer. 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 to 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

ABC Motsepe League ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

SAFA Second Division

The SAFA Second Division is the third tier of South African soccer, and the highest tier directly controlled by the South African Football Association. The league is played on a provincial basis, and made up mostly of semi-professional sides. 144 clubs are divided into nine, 16 team leagues. At the end of the season the nine league winners enter into a series of play-offs to earn the two promotion places in the

. The bottom two teams in each league are relegated to the

SAB Regional League The South African Breweries Regional League is the fourth tier of domestic football in the South African football pyramid. There are 832 clubs competing in the competition. Most teams are made up of players under the age of 19. Sub-Leagues The c ...

SAB Regional League

The SAB Regional League is the fourth tier of South African soccer, and the second highest tier controlled by the South African Football Association. The league is made up of 832 clubs, divided into 52 leagues. Each of the 52 leagues is associated with one of the nine provincial leagues in the

SAFA Second Division The ABC Motsepe League, previously known as the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the current Second Division and the overall third tier of South African football. The competition is regulated by SAFA, and until 2012 ...

, and are usually amateur teams. The regional league winners enter into a series of play-offs in their province, to gain two places in each provincial league in the

LFA Soccer Leagues

Leagues below the

are controlled by SAFA's Local Football Associations. 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 Soccer Leagues

There are several different youth soccer leagues, organised along geographic lines. The main youth competition is the U19 National League, run along local football association lines.

Tertiary Soccer

Most universities in South Africa include soccer programs for both men and women. Most clubs play in the amateur leagues, competing against non-university sides. The exception is in the

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

province, where clubs play in the Gauteng Football League. The two largest university soccer tournaments are the USSA Football tournament and Varsity Sports Football Challenge. The USSA tournament is open to all universities, and allows separate teams for different campuses. The Varsity Sports tournament is only open to universities aligned to the University Sports Company, and only allows one club per university. The

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

formerly ran a club,

Bidvest Wits Bidvest Wits Football Club, (simply often known as Wits University F.C. or Wits) was a South African professional football club from Johannesburg which played in the Premier Soccer League the first-tier of South African league football system ...

, who competed in the

, and

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 ...

runs a professional club, Tuks F.C., which play on their campuses and campaign in the

. Maluti FET College F.C. competes in the

Schools Soccer

There are also several leagues for high school and junior school soccer teams, however many private and former model C schools have controversially chosen not to include soccer programs. One of the largest national schools soccer tournament is the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup.

Cup competitions

The

is South Africa's main soccer cup, and is modeled on England's

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. The cup is open to teams from the

down to the SAB Regional Leagues. The

is the country's

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, 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 The Baymed Cup was a knockout cup competition for South Africa's 2nd-level football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their fe ...

is a defunct cup competition, which was open to

National teams

Senior teams

The South Africa national team or ''Bafana Bafana'' (a Zulu term of endearment which means ''the boys, the boys'') is the national team of

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 Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

system. The team has played at seven Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, winning once. The team has also played at three

s including,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and 2002 in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

and Japan. South Africa became the first

n nation to host the

when it hosted the 19th FIFA World Cup in June 2010. The team's

Siphiwe Tshabalala Lawrence Siphiwe Tshabalala (; born 25 September 1984) is a South African professional football player who most recently played as a midfielder for AmaZulu. He is considered to be one of the most well-known and decorated South African soccer pl ...

was also the first person to score in this World Cup during the opening game against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Despite defeating

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 participated in the FIFA Confederations Cup of

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and hosted in 2009. The team's highest achievement was winning the Africa Cup of Nations at home in 1996. The men's development team is made up mainly of players from South Africa's lower leagues. The team plays matches in the COSAFA Cup and

African Nations Championship The African Nations Championship (french: Championnat d'Afrique des Nations; abbreviated as CHAN), known as the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship for sponsorship purposes, is a biennial African national association football tourname ...

. The women's team has played at nine

African Women's Championship The Women's Africa Cup of Nations, also called the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons and abbreviated to WAFCON, is an international women's football competition held every two years and sanctioned by the Confe ...

s and had a best finish of second place, which it accomplished four times, most recently in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. 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. South Africa made the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time ever in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, ironically also in

, where the men's team made its debut 21 years ago.

Junior teams

There are three men's youth teams: * Amaglug-glug (under 23) * Amajita (under 20) * Amajimbos (under 17) and two women's youth teams: * Basetsana (under 20) * Bantwana (under 17)

International tournaments

South Africa has hosted a number of large scale football tournaments. These include: * 1994 COSAFA U-17 Cup *

* 1999 All-Africa Games Football tournament * 1999 COSAFA U-20 Cup *

1999 UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup The 1999 UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup was the second UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup and was held in South Africa. Teams * (host nation) * * * * * * * Group stage In the following tables: Key: Pld Matches played, W Won, D Drawn, L Lost, GF Goals for ...

2000 African Women's Championship The 2000 African Women's Championship was the 4th edition of the biennial African international women's association football tournament organized by CAF and the second to be hosted by a country for the women's national teams of Africa. It was ...

* 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 The 2004 African Women's Championship was the sixth edition of the African Women's Championship (now known as the ''Africa Women Cup of Nations''), the biennial international football championship organised by the Confederation of African Football ...

2004 COSAFA U-20 Cup 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

* 2005 COSAFA U-20 Cup *

2005 COSAFA Cup This page provides summaries to the 2005 COSAFA Cup. Format In the first round, twelve teams were divided into three groups of four teams each. Each group played a knockout tournament. The winners of each group joined Angola (holders) into the f ...

(co-host) * 2006 COSAFA U-20 Cup * 2007 COSAFA U-20 Cup * 2007 COSAFA Cup (co-host) *

2008 COSAFA U-20 Cup 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

* 2008 COSAFA Cup * 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup *

2009 COSAFA U-20 Cup The 2009 COSAFA U-20 Cup is an association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectan ...

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

* 2010 African Women's Championship *

2011 African Youth Championship The 2011 African Youth Championship was a football tournament for the Under-20 level national teams in Africa. It was due to be held in Libya from 18 March to 1 April. Following political unrest in the region, CAF decided to postpone the tourna ...

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

2014 African Nations Championship The 2014 African Nations Championship was the third African Nations Championship football tournament. The 16 national teams featured players from the respective national championships. The tournament took place between 11 January and 1 February ...

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:

Foreign players in South Africa

References

South Africa 1987