The Sasol Women's League is the second-tier South African women's

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

league, sponsored by

Sasol Sasol Limited, commonly referred to as Sasol, is an integrated energy and chemical company based in Sandton, South Africa. The company was formed in 1950 in Sasolburg, South Africa, and built around coal liquefaction processes that German ...

since 2013. It is semi-professional, and operates as a provincial league, with two "streams" of 8-10 teams in each of South Africa's nine provinces (in some cases, multiple streams per province), and each province's champion then competing in a single-location National Championship tournament. The championship's two finalists are then promoted to the (professional, first-tier)

SAFA Women's League The SAFA Women's League, known as Hollywoodbets Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the top flight of women's association football in South Africa. The competition is run by the South African Football Association. The league comprises 16 ( ...

, while the bottom two teams in each province's standings are relegated to the SAFA Women's Regional League of their respective province.

History

The Sasol Women's League was originally launched in 2009 as the Absa Women's League, in partnership with

Absa Bank Absa Bank Limited, formerly known as the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa, is a commercial bank in South Africa and the flagship bank of Absa Group. It is licensed by the Reserve Bank of South Africa, the central bank and national banking r ...

, in order to improve the South African women's national team's international performances. At the inaugural national championship. Detroit Ladies from Mpumalanga defeated Palace Super Falcons from Gauteng via penalties after the match ended in a 3-3 draw. At the 2010 Absa League National Championship, Palace Super Falcons from Gauteng defeated Detroit Ladies from Mpumalanga 4-2 via penalties after the match ended in a 2-2 draw. At the 2011 Absa League National Championship, Palace Super Falcons from Gauteng defeated Brazilian Ladies from Limpopo 6-0 in the final. At the 2012 Sasol League National Championship, Palace Super Falcons from Gauteng defeated

Cape Town Roses Cape Town Roses F.C. is a women's soccer club based in Gugulethu, Western Cape. The team competes in the Sasol Women's League, the second tier women's football league in South Africa. The team is best known for fielding young players. They won ...

from the Western Cape 5-2 in the final. At the

2013 Sasol League National Championship The 2013 Sasol League National Championship was the 5th edition of the Sasol League National Championship since it was formed in 2009. It was held at Alabama Stadium in Klerksdorp. Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies won 2-0 in the final against Ma-Indies L ...

, Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies from Gauteng defeated

Ma-Indies Ladies Ma-Indies Ladies F.C. is a women's soccer club based in Polokwane, Limpopo. The team competes in the Sasol Women's League, the second tier women's football league in South Africa. History They won the 2013 Limpopo Sasol Women's League and qua ...

from Limpopo 2-0 in the final. At the 2014 Sasol League National Championship,

from the Western Cape defeated Palace Super Falcons from Gauteng 2-1 in the final. At the

2015 Sasol League National Championship The 2015 Sasol League National Championship was the 7th edition of the Sasol League National Championship since it was formed in 2009. It was held at DP de Villiers Stadium in Sasolburg. Cape Town Roses were defending champions. They were defeat ...

, Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies from Gauteng defeated

from the Western Cape 5-0 in the final. At the

2016 Sasol League National Championship The 2016 Sasol League National Championship was the 8th edition of the Sasol League National Championship since it was formed in 2009. It was held at D’Almeida Stadium in Mossel Bay. Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies were defending champions. They fai ...

Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies F.C., also known as Celtic Ladies, was a women's soccer club based in Bloemfontein, Free State. Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies was the most successful women's team in the Free State before selling their franchise to Royal ...

from the Free State defeated JVW from Gauteng 1-0 in the final. At the

2017 Sasol League National Championship The 2017 Sasol League National Championship was the 9th edition of the Sasol League National Championship since it was formed in 2009. It was held at Kabokweni Stadium in Mbombela. The 2017 edition kicked off with an announcement of an increase ...

from the Free State defeated

from the Western Cape 2-0 in the final. At the 2018 Sasol League National Championship,

Tshwane University of Technology Tshwane University of Technology (TUT; ) is a higher education institution in South Africa that came into being through a merger of three technikons — Technikon Northern Gauteng, Technikon North-West and Technikon Pretoria. As the number of ...

from Gauteng defeated Durban Ladies from KwaZulu-Natal 4-0 in the final. At the 2019 Sasol League National Championship, JVW from Gauteng defeated

from Limpopo 2-0 in the final. At the 2021 Sasol League National Championship, Vasco da Gama from the Western Cape defeated City Lads from the Eastern Cape 4-3 in the final. At the 2022 Sasol League National Championship, Copperbelt Ladies from Limpopo defeated the University of Pretoria from Gauteng 3-2 via penalties after the match ended in a 1-1 draw. At the 2023 Sasol League National Championship, the

University of Fort Hare The University of Fort Hare () is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to ...

from the Eastern Cape defeated Lindelani Ladies from KwaZulu-Natal 4-3 via penalties after the match ended in a goalless draw. At the 2024 Sasol League National Championship, Ezemvelo from KwaZulu-Natal defeated the University of Cape Town from the Western Cape 2-0 in the final.

Annual Champions

As recorded by the league sponsor, since its founding 11 different teams from 7 provinces have won the Sasol Women's League:

Performance by province

References

{{Sasol Women's League Best Goalkeeper Women's soccer leagues in South Africa 2009 establishments in South Africa Professional sports leagues in South Africa

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Sports leagues established in 2009