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.[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 CAF Women's Champions League.[2]

Hollywoodbets Super League
Founded2019
Country South Africa
ConfederationCAF
Number of teams16
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toSasol Women’s League
International cup(s)CAF W-Champions League
Current championsMamelodi Sundowns Ladies (5th title)
(2022)
Most championshipsMamelodi Sundowns Ladies
(5 titles )
TV partnersSABC1
SABC Sport
Websitesafa.net
Current: 2023–24 SAFA W-League

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 each region's province's champion. 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 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 with the 2021-22 season.

Champions

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

Year Champions Runners-up
2009 Detroit Ladies FC Palace Super Falcons
2010 Palace Super Falcons Detroit Ladies FC
2011 Palace Super Falcons Brazilians Ladies FC
2012 Palace Super Falcons Cape Town Roses FC
2013 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies Ma-Indies Ladies FC
2014 Cape Town Roses FC Palace Super Falcons
2015 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies Cape Town Roses FC
2016 Bloemfontein Celtic Janine Van Wyk FC
2017 Bloemfontein Celtic Cape Town Roses FC
2018 TUT Ladies FC Durban Ladies
2019–20 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies TUT Ladies FC
2020–21 cancelled

because of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa

2021 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies UWC Ladies FC
2022 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies UWC Ladies FC
2023 TBD TBD

Most successful clubs
RankClubChampionsRunners-upWinning SeasonsRunners-up Seasons
1 Mamelodi Sundowns 5 0 2013, 2015, 2020, 2021, 2022
2 Palace Super Falcons 3 2 2010, 2011, 2012 2009, 2014
3 Bloemfontein Celtic 2 0 2016, 2017
4 Cape Town Roses FC 1 3 2014 2012, 2015, 2017
5 Detroit Ladies FC 1 1 2009 2010
TUT Ladies FC 1 1 2018 2020
7 UWC Ladies FC 0 2 2021, 2022
8 Brazilians Ladies FC 0 1 2011
Ma-Indies Ladies FC 0 1 2013
Janine Van Wyk FC 0 1 2016

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.

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.

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.
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