The SAFA Second Division, known as the Vodacom League between 1998-2012, was founded in 1998 as the current Second Division and the overall third tier of South African football (soccer). The competition is regulated by SAFA, and until 2012 had been sponsored by mobile telecommunications company Vodacom.
Currently it features 144 teams in total, divided into 9 divisions, borderly decided by the 9 geo-political provinces of South Africa: Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu Natal, Northern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West. This means, that each Provincial division contains 16 teams as standard. The winner of each Provincial division qualifies for the annual Promotional Play-offs, where the winners of two streams, will get promoted to the National First Division. In each Province, the two lowest ranked teams by the end of the season, will be relegated to U21 SAB Regional League, which in return will promote two play-off winners from the Regional Championships.
An important rule to note, is that all clubs in South Africa also are allowed to compete with youth teams (U19/U21) and/or a Reserve team in a lower SAFA league. If a club opt to field such teams, the U19 teams will start out at the fifth level in the U19 National League, while U21 teams or Reserve teams will start out at the fourth level in the U21 SAB Regional League. If any U19 team win promotion for U21 SAB Regional League or SAFA Second Division, this promotion is fully accepted. No club are however entitled to field two teams at the same level, and rule 4.6.4 of the SAFA regulations states, that if the mother club play in the National First Division or Premier Soccer League, then the highest level these additional Youth/Reserve teams are allowed to compete, will be the SAFA Second Division. In such cases, where a non-promotable team manage to win their regional division, the ticket for the promotional playoffs will instead be handed over to the second best team in the division.
In the 2010–11 season these promotional restrictions mean, that: Ajax Cape Town U19, Bay Academy, Bid Boys, Celtic Colts, SuperSport T.H. Academy and Mitchells Plain United, were all accepted to play in the league, but without any possibility of further promotion.
Read more about Vodacom League: Provincial Divisions, Promoted Teams, Previous Logos, External Links
Famous quotes containing the word league:
“I am not impressed by the Ivy League establishments. Of course they graduate the best—it’s all they’ll take, leaving to others the problem of educating the country. They will give you an education the way the banks will give you money—provided you can prove to their satisfaction that you don’t need it.”
—Peter De Vries (b. 1910)