National Professional Soccer League (South Africa)

NPSL First Division
Founded	1971
Folded	1995
Country	South Africa
Most championships	Kaizer Chiefs (6 times)

The National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) was the title of a South African association football league, between 1971 and 1995. During those years, the league, however, had three completely different organisations.

History

1971–77

In 1971–77 it was only for Black South African teams.

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third-place
NPSL Castle League (for blacks)
1971	Orlando Pirates	Kaizer Chiefs	Moroka Swallows Big XV
1972	AmaZulu
1973	Orlando Pirates
1974	Kaizer Chiefs	Moroka Swallows Ltd.	Zulu Royals
1975	Orlando Pirates
1976	Orlando Pirates	Kaizer Chiefs	Moroka Swallows Ltd.
1977	Kaizer Chiefs

1978–1984

Then it merged with National Football League (NFL), which previously had been organised only for White South African players in 1959–77. The two leagues together formed a new topflight "non-racial" football league in 1978–84 (also named NPSL), where the "white teams" were allowed to field a maximum of three black players.

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third-place
NPSL Castle League
1978	Lusitano	Wits University	Arcadia Pepsi
1979	Kaizer Chiefs	Arcadia Pepsi	Highlands Park
1980	Highlands Park	Kaizer Chiefs	Wits University
1981	Kaizer Chiefs	Dion Highlands	Arcadia Fluoride
1982	Durban City	Wits University	Kaizer Chiefs
1983	Durban City	Arcadia Fluoride	Kaizer Chiefs
1984	Kaizer Chiefs	Moroka Swallows	Durban City

In January 1985, Kaizer Chiefs owner Kaizer Motaung lodged a complaint that it was unfair that 10% of revenue from a testimonial match for Ace Ntsoelengoe and Jomo Sono was expected to go to various administrative bodies including SANFA. Several clubs question the conflicts of interest for George Thabe to be the president of the NPLS and SANFA at the same time. Fifteen of the sixteen clubs petitioned for Thabe to resign as NPSL chairman and a proposal for constitution changes that remove SANFA's veto rights over NPSL. On 29 January, Thabe told those clubs who wanted to him resign should leave the NPSL.

In February 1985, it was announced that the clubs wanting to break away had arranged sponsorship with South African Breweriers, the existing sponsor of NPSL, and a newly created National Soccer League (NSL) would begin on 23 February in accordance with anti-apartheid principles.

1985–1995

The remaining part of NPSL continued to co-exist as an independent league, until it folded in December 1995. When NPSL folded, the few remaining teams continued to play the next 1996–97 season in the "2nd Division of NSL", which at that point of time became renamed to the National First Division.^[1]

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third-place
NPSL
1985
1986	Vaal Professionals
1987	Vaal Professionals
1988	Vaal Professionals
1989	Real Sweepers
1990	De Beers
1991	Oriental Spurs
1992	Arcadia Shepherds
1993
1994
1995	Witbank All Stars

^[2]

Team	Titles	Years
Kaizer Chiefs	5	1974, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1984
Orlando Pirates	4	1971, 1973, 1975, 1976
Vaal Professionals	3	1986, 1987, 1988
Durban City	2	1982, 1983
AmaZulu	1	1972
Lusitano	1	1978
Highlands Park	1	1980
Real Sweepers	1	1989
De Beers	1	1990
Oriental Spurs	1	1991
Arcadia Shepherds	1	1992
Witbank All Stars	1	1995

References

↑ "South African National Championships". rsssf.com. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
↑ Raath, Peter (2002). Soccer through the years, 1862–2002. [Cape Town]. ISBN 9780620298056.

Soccer 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

Seasons in South African soccer
Premiership teams (2016–17)	Ajax Cape Town Baroka Bidvest Wits Bloemfontein Celtic Cape Town City Chippa United Free State Stars Golden Arrows Highlands Park Kaizer Chiefs Mamelodi Sundowns Maritzburg United Pirates Platinum Stars Polokwane City SuperSport United
First Division teams (2016–17)	AmaZulu Black Leopards Cape Town All Stars FC Cape Town Jomo Cosmos Milano United Magesi Mbombela United Mthatha Bucks Real Kings Royal Eagles Santos Stellenbosch Thanda Royal Zulu University of Pretoria Witbank Spurs
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 2016–17
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 2016–17
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 2016–17
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 2015–16 2016–17
Telkom Knockout	1982 1983 1984 1985 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 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
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 2016
Carling Black Label Cup	2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
National Football League	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978
Federation Professional League	1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
NPSL (1971-1977)	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
NPSL (1978-1984)	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
NPSL (1985-1995)	1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1984 1992 1983 1994 1995
National Soccer League (NSL)	1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
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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