National Professional Soccer League (South Africa)

NPSL First Division
Founded	1971
Folded	1995
Country	South Africa
Most championships	Kaizer Chiefs (5 times)

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

History

1971–1977

In 1971–1977, due to the country's apartheid policies, the league was only contested by teams made up of black players.

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

In 1978, the NPSL merged with the National Football League (NFL), which previously had been organised only for White South African players in 1959–1977. The two leagues together formed a new topflight multi-racial football league in 1978–1984 (also named NPSL), where teams were still designated as white or black, but 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
1979	Kaizer Chiefs	Arcadia	Highlands Park
1980	Highlands Park	Kaizer Chiefs	Wits University
1981	Kaizer Chiefs	Highlands Park	Arcadia
1982	Durban City	Wits University	Kaizer Chiefs
1983	Durban City	Arcadia	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 Breweries, 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 (South Africa had two top division Leagues which were NPSL and NSL), 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^[2]
1985	Umtata Bush Bucks
1986	Vaal Professionals
1987	Vaal Professionals
1988	Vaal Professionals
1989	Real Sweepers
1990	De Beers
1991	Oriental Spurs
1992	Arcadia Shepherds
1993	unknown
1994	unknown
1995	Witbank All Stars

Most titles

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
Bush Bucks	1	1985
De Beers	1	1990
Oriental Spurs	1	1991
Arcadia Shepherds	1	1992
Witbank All Stars	1	1995

References

^ "South African National Championships". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
^ Raath, Peter (2002). Soccer through the years, 1862–2002. [Cape Town]. ISBN 9780620298056.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[1] "South African National Championships". RSSSF. Retrieved 3 May 2010.

[2] Raath, Peter (2002). Soccer through the years, 1862–2002. [Cape Town]. ISBN 9780620298056.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[1]

[2]

v t e Seasons in South African soccer
Premiership teams (2024–25)	AmaZulu Cape Town City Chippa United Golden Arrows Kaizer Chiefs Magesi Marumo Gallants Mamelodi Sundowns Pirates Polokwane City Richards Bay Royal AM Sekhukhune United Stellenbosch SuperSport United TS Galaxy
First Division teams (2024–25)	Baroka Black Leopards Cape Town Spurs Casric Stars Durban City Highbury Hungry Lions JDR Stars Kruger United Leruma United Milford Orbit College Pretoria Callies University of Pretoria Upington City Venda
Premiership	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 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
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 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
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 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
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 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
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 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Telkom Knockout/Carling Knockout Cup	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 2017 2018 2019 2020 2023 2024
Carling Black Label Cup	2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2019 2021 2022
National Football League	1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
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
SASF Cup	1961 1962 1963 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
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

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	United States