Premier Soccer League

For other uses, see Premier League (disambiguation).

Absa Premier Soccer League

Country	South Africa
Confederation	CAF
Founded	1996
First season	1996–97
Divisions	Premier Division National First Division
Number of teams	16
Level on pyramid	1
Promotion to	2 CAF Champions League spots 2 CAF Confederation Cup spots
Relegation to	National First Division
Domestic cup(s)	Telkom Knockout MTN 8 Nedbank Cup
International cup(s)	CAF Champions League CAF Confederation Cup
Current champions	Kaizer Chiefs (2014/2015)
Most championships	Mamelodi Sundowns (6)
Website	Official Website
2015–16 South African Premier Division

The Premier Soccer League (PSL) is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from South Africa. It is the top level football league in South Africa and has been since its foundation in 1996.

The PSL was created following an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnants of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). The Premier Soccer League is a trading name for the National Soccer League. The Premier Division is seen as a successor of the National Soccer League.

The company acts as a governing body and competition organiser. The PSL are affiliated to the South African Football Association but SAFA do not govern the PSL competitions. Teams that are relegated from the PSL organised leagues compete in the SAFA-organised Second Division. The National First Division (NFD) is the second-highest league of South African club football (soccer)

The Premier Soccer League is a 16 teams league consisting of 30 matches per team, the league consisted 18 teams on its establishment until 2001/2002 season which saw 2 teams Ria Stars & Free State Stars being disbanded.

The relegation and promotion process for the PSL allows one team to be promoted directly with one relegated directly, the team occupying 15th spot in the PSL together with 2 teams occupying 2nd & 3rd spots in National First Division form a mini-league for promotion/relegation play-offs.

Competitions

The Premier Soccer League sell the naming rights of their competitions to a title sponsor. The PSL organise the following competitions:

League competitions

South African Premier Division / PSL
National First Division / NFD

Cup competitions

They had previously organised Charity Cup, a one-day, four team, season opening cup, which ran from 1986 to 2010. The Baymed Cup was open to First Division sides, but the competition was terminated after one edition in 2006.

The structure of the PSL cup competitions is made by 3 different types with sponsors for each getting naming rights:
League Top 8
Top 8 teams on the log compete on the cup.
MTN 8 sponsored by MTN since 2008.
SAA Super 8 sponsored by SAA 2003-2007.
BP Top 8 sponsored by BP 1972(1996)-2002.

League Cup
All 16 teams on the league compete on the cup via a random draw.
Coca-Cola Cup sponsored by Coca Cola 1996.
Rothmans Cup sponsored by Rothmans 1997-2000.
Coca-Cola Cup sponsored by Coca Cola 2001-2005.
Telkom Knockout sponsored by Telkom since 2006.

Association Cup
Consisting of 32 teams from:
16 PSL teams.
8 NFD teams.
The other 8 teams being from Vodacom League & Castle Regional League.
Nedbank Cup sponsored by Nedbank since 2008.
Absa Cup sponsored by Absa 2003-2007.
Bobsave Super Bowl sponsored by FNB 1988(1996)-2001.

League licenses

Licenses to participate in the league can be bought and sold on the free market. In August 2002, the PSL bought two Premier Division licences, from the owners of Ria Stars F.C. and Free State Stars F.C., the PSL dissolved the license to ease fixture congestion and reduce their own costs by 400k ZAR per month as each top tier club received 200k ZAR on a monthly basis from the PSL.^[1] The two clubs were purchased for 8 million ZAR. The two clubs had differing fates, Ria Stars never appeared again whilst Free State Stars bought the league license from Maholosiane F.C., a team participating in the National First Division in the 2002/2003 season and earned promotion to the top tier in the 2003/2004 season.

Structure

The NSL is the only special member of the South African Football Association (SAFA). The NSL has 32 members, the 16 clubs from the Premier Division and 16 clubs from the first division who together form the Board of governors. The Board of governors is the supreme body and its functions are stated in Article 13 of the NSL constitution. The Board of governors elects the Chairman and the Executive committee, it is empowered to delegate management and operational functions to the Executive Committee. The Executive committee consists of 8 elected members and the Chief Executive Officer. The Executive is appointed for a period of four years at the quadrennial general meeting. The Executive delegates some of its operational functions to the CEO.

References

↑ "Debt crushes PSL team into history". City press. 28 July 2002. Retrieved 1 December 2012.

Premier Soccer League

*Kickoff Magazine SA
*Soccer Laduma
*Sport 24
*World Of Champions

External links

South Africa Champions, RSSSF.com

Football in South Africa

South African Football Association

National teams

Men	National team (Bafana Bafana) Olympic (U-23) (Amaglug-glug) U-20 (Amajita) U-17 (Amajimbos) development (Amabinneplaas)

Women	National team (Banyana Banyana) U-20 (Basetsana) U-17 (Bantwana)

League system

Men

Active	Premier Soccer League (ABSA Premiership National First Division) SAFA (Vodacom League Regional League U19 National League)

Defunct	NFL (1959-77) SASL (1961-67) FPL (1969-90) NPSL Castle League for blacks (1971-77) NPSL Castle League (1978-84) NPSL (1985-95) NSL Castle League (1985-95) NSL Second Division (1985-95)

Domestic cups

Men

Active	Nedbank Cup Telkom Knockout MTN 8 Carling Black Label Cup Vodacom Challenge Mangaung Cup

Defunct	NFL Cup (1959-77) SASF Cup (1961-85) United Bank International Soccer Festival (1993-94) Baymed Cup (2006) Telkom Charity Cup (1986-2010)

Awards

Footballer of the Year
Top scorers
SAFA Awards
PSL Awards

Lists

All-time Table
Champions
Clubs
Club name changes
International footballers
Foreign players
Regional Football Associations
Venues

Men's clubs
Women's clubs
Men's players
Women's players
Expatriate players
Managers
Referees
Venues
Seasons
Records

Premier Soccer League 2015–16

Ajax Cape Town Bidvest Wits Bloemfontein Celtic Chippa United Free State Stars Golden Arrows Jomo Cosmos Kaizer Chiefs Mamelodi Sundowns Maritzburg United Mpumalanga Black Aces Orlando Pirates Platinum Stars Polokwane City SuperSport United University of Pretoria

Premier Soccer League seasons

1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

Seasons in South African soccer

Premiership teams (2015–16)	Ajax Cape Town Bidvest Wits Bloemfontein Celtic Chippa United Free State Stars Golden Arrows Jomo Cosmos Kaizer Chiefs Mamelodi Sundowns Maritzburg United Black Aces Orlando Pirates Platinum Stars Polokwane City Supersport United Tuks FC

First Division teams (2015–16)	African Warriors AmaZulu Black Leopards Baroka FC Cape Town All Stars FC Cape Town Highlands Park Milano United Moroka Swallows Royal Eagles Santos Thanda Royal Zulu Vasco da Gama Witbank Spurs

National Premier Soccer League (South Africa)	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984

National Soccer League (South Africa)	1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

Premier Soccer League	1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

National First Division	1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

SAFA Second Division	1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16

Nedbank Cup	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2008-09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

Telkom Knockout	1982* 1983* 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

MTN 8	1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Carling Black Label Cup	2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Telkom Charity Cup	1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Vodacom Challenge	1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011

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