SAFA Women's League

Last updated

Hollywoodbets Super League
Hollywoodbets SL (logo).png
Founded2019
CountryFlag of South Africa.svg  South Africa
Confederation CAF
Number of teams16
Level on pyramid1
Relegation to Sasol Women’s League
International cup(s) COSAFA Women's Champions League
Current champions Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies (6th title)
(2023)
Most championships Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies
(6 titles )
TV partners SABC1
SABC Sport
Website safa.net
Current: 2024 SAFA W-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. [1] The league comprises 16 (originally 12) teams which won promotion from their respective Sasol Women's Provincial League divisions. The champion now earns entry into the COSAFA Women's Champions League. [2]

Contents

History

Prior to the formation of the SAFA Women's League in 2019, a series of predecessor competitions crowned an annual national women's champion club for South Africa.

Inter-Provincial Women’s Championship (1976–1990)

Women's football started in 1976 by founding an Inter-Provincial Championship until 1990. Natal United FC have a record of 9 championships. [3]

SAFA Women's Championship (2001-2009)

From 2001 until 2009, a series of championships were organized by SAFA between the champion of each SAFA Region or province. In 2001-2002 this was known as the Sanlam National Women's Championship [4] and involved champions of SAFA's then-25 regions. [5] In 2005-06, the national playoffs were known as the Vodacom Women's League. [6] In 2008-09, this event was replaced by the Absa Women's League, which later became SAFA's regional league (sub-provincial).

Sasol Women’s National League (2009–2019)

The Sasol Women's League is a provincial women's football league which was formed in 2009 when Sasol and the South African Football Association (SAFA) went into partnership for women's football in South Africa. The league runs separate leagues for each of the nine provinces, and brings their champions together to play the National Championship, and its winner is promoted to the SAFA Women's League. [7] Following the formation of the SAFA Women's League, the Sasol League became its second-tier / feeder league and no longer crowned the national champion.

SAFA Women's League (2019–present)

Following rumors as early as 2017 [8] of SAFA establishing a professional women's league, the association indeed announced the formation of the SAFA Women's National League in August 2019. [9] The new league replaced the previous inter-regional play (which had been limited only to the national championship tournament) with a national double-round-robin league of the country's top clubs. The league's first season was played in 2019-20, and began with the previous season's respective provincial champions, plus two women's affiliates of PSL clubs and the university league champion, as the initial 12 members. [10] The initial season's start date was pushed back to August 2019 in order to accommodate Banyana Banyana's participation at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. [11] In the first two seasons, there was no relegation: 2 teams were promoted to make 14 in 2020, and another 2 were promoted to make 16 in 2021, with relegation then beginning in the 2022 season.

Champions

The list of champions and runners-up: [12]

YearChampionsRunners-up
2009 Detroit Ladies Palace Super Falcons
2010 Palace Super Falcons Detroit Ladies FC
2011 Palace Super Falcons Brazilians Ladies FC
2012 Palace Super Falcons Cape Town Roses
2013 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies Ma-Indies Ladies
2014 Cape Town Roses Palace Super Falcons
2015 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies Cape Town Roses
2016 Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies JVW
2017 Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies Cape Town Roses
2018 TUT Ladies Durban Ladies
2019 JVW FC Ma-Indies Ladies
2020 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies TUT Ladies
2021 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies UWC Ladies
2022 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies UWC Ladies
2023 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies UWC Ladies

Most successful clubs

RankClubChampionsRunners-upWinning SeasonsRunners-up Seasons
1 Mamelodi Sundowns 602013, 2015, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
2 Palace Super Falcons 322010, 2011, 20122009, 2014
3 Bloemfontein Celtic 20 2016, 2017
4 Cape Town Roses 1320142012, 2015, 2017
5 Detroit Ladies 1120092010
TUT Ladies 11 2018 2020
JVW 11 2019 2016
8 UWC Ladies 032021, 2022, 2023
9 Ma-Indies Ladies 022013, 2019
10 Brazilians Ladies 012011
Durban Ladies 012018

Sponsorships

During the beginning of the 2021–22 season, South African Football Association announced that they secured a naming-rights deal with Hollywoodbets. [13] [14] The deal is worth about R17 million, with the winner receiving R2 million while runners up receive R1 million. They also sponsor the awards at the end of the season, giving away prize money of R50,000 to the player of the season, young player of the season, coach of the season as well as top goal score. The deal is set to be a 3-year deal. [15] [16]

Broadcasting

SABC are currently the only broadcaster for SAFA Women's League. They broadcaster matches throughout their three channels: SABC 1, SABC 3 and SABC Sport. They only broadcast two matches during the weekend.

Founding teams

A list of the teams that took part in the inaugural SAFA Women's League: [17]

Bold entries are participating in the current season

TeamProvince
Thunderbirds Ladies Eastern Cape
Bloemfontein Celtics Ladies Free State
Tsunami Queens
Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies Gauteng
TUT Ladies
UJ Ladies
Durban Ladies Kwa-Zulu Natal
First Touch Limpopo
Coal City Wizards Mpumalanga
Richmond United Northern Cape
Golden Ladies North West
UWC Ladies Western Cape

Related Research Articles

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Nompumelelo "Mpumi" Nyandeni is a South African soccer player who plays as a midfielder for SAFA Women's League side JVW.

Andisiwe “Gudluza” Mgcoyi is a South African soccer player and coach who plays as a forward for SAFA Women's League club Mamelodi Sundowns and the South African women's national team. She represented the South African women's national soccer team at the 2012 London Olympics.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sasol Women's League</span> Football league

The Sasol Women's League is the second-tier South African Women's association football league, sponsored by Sasol 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, and each province's champion then competing in a single-location National Championship tournament. The championships two finalists are then promoted to the SAFA Women's League, while the bottom two teams in each province's standings are relegated to the SAFA Regional Women's League of their respective province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melinda Kgadiete</span> South African professional soccer player

Melinda Kgadiete is a South African professional soccer player who plays as an attacking midfielder for SAFA Women's League club Mamelodi Sundowns and the South African women's national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Letago Madiba</span> South African soccer player

Letago Madiba is a South African soccer player who plays as a forward for Fatih Vatan Spor in the Turkish Women's Super League. She has been a member of the South Africa women's national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies F.C.</span> Football club

Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies F.C. is a women's professional soccer club based in Pretoria, South Africa. The team competes in the SAFA Women's League, the top tier women's football league in South Africa. They are the most successful women's team in South Africa with six titles. The team, together with the men's team are owned by Patrice Motsepe.

The 2022 SAFA Women's League was the 3rd season of the fully-professional SAFA Women's League, and the 14th season of nation-wide league competition in women's club football in South Africa.

The 2021 SAFA Women's League was the 2nd season of the fully-professional SAFA Women's League, and the 13th season of nation-wide league competition in women's club football in South Africa.

Agnes Thandiwe Nkosi is South African professional football manager and former player who is the current assistant coach of the SAFA Women's League side Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies.

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Oratile Dikgosi Mokwena is a South African soccer player who plays as a midfielder for SAFA Women's League club Mamelodi Sundowns and the South Africa women's national team.

Regirl Makhaukane Ngobeni is a South African teacher and soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for SAFA Women's League side the University of Western Cape and the South Africa women's national team.

Yolula Tsawe is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for SAFA Women's League side TS Galaxy Queens and the South Africa women's national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindelani Ladies</span> Football club

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References

  1. ↑ "SAFA Announce New Sponsor For National Women's Soccer League". Soccer Laduma. 16 May 2021.
  2. ↑ "Hollywoodbets Super League". safa.net.
  3. ↑ "Inter-Provincial Championship". RSSSF . Hans Schöggl. 29 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "South Africa (Women) 2001/02". RSSSF . Hans Schöggl. 24 June 2020.
  5. ↑ "SAFA/Sanlam National Women's League". South African Football Association. Archive.org. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  6. ↑ "South Africa (Women) 2005/06". RSSSF . Hans Schöggl. 3 January 2014.
  7. ↑ "Sasol Women's League". safa.net.
  8. ↑ "Safa planning to launch national women's league". Goal.com. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  9. ↑ "SAFA National Women's League fixtures announced". South African Football Association. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  10. ↑ "National Women's Football League takes flight under stormy conditions". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  11. ↑ "Women's league in Safa limbo". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  12. ↑ "South Africa - List of Women Champions". RSSSF . Hans Schöggl. 5 August 2021.
  13. ↑ Fletcher, Robert (19 May 2021). "Hollywoodbets sponsors South Africa's National Women's Football League". iGamingBusiness. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  14. ↑ "SAFA Announce New Sponsor For National Women's Soccer League". Soccer Laduma. 16 May 2021.
  15. ↑ admin (19 May 2021). "Hollywoodbets Super League provides massive boost for Women's Soccer". Hollywood Foundation. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  16. ↑ "SAFA launches 'game changer' Hollywoodbets Super League for women's football - SABC News - Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader". 18 May 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  17. ↑ "Safa launches Women's National League | Goal.com South Africa". www.goal.com. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
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