Sasol Women's League

The Sasol Women's League is the second-tier South African Women's association football league, sponsored by Sasol since 2013.^[1] It is semi-professional,^[2] and operates as a provincial league, with 2 "streams" of 8-10 teams in each of South Africa's 9 provinces (in some cases, multiple streams per province), and each province's champion then competing in a single-location National Championship tournament.^[3] The league's champion from that tournament is promoted to the (professional, first-tier) SAFA Women's League, the runner-up advances to a promotion play-off, while the bottom 2 teams in each province's standings are relegated to the SAFA Regional Women's League of their respective province.^[4]

Sasol Women's League

Organising body	SAFA
Founded	18 September 2009
Country	South Africa
Divisions	18
Number of teams	144
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	SAFA Women's League
Relegation to	SAFA Regional Women's League
Current champions	University of Fort Hare (2023)
Most championships	Palace Super Falcons (3 titles)
TV partners	SABC
Current: 2023

History

The Sasol Women's League was originally launched in 2009 as the Absa Women's League, in partnership with Absa Bank,^[5][6] in order to improve the South African women's national team's international performances.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12][13]}

Annual Champions

As recorded by the league sponsor,^[14] since its founding 9 different teams from 5 provinces have won the Sasol Women's League:

Season	Winner	Province
2009	Detroit Ladies	Mpumalanga
2010	Palace Super Falcons (1)	Gauteng
2011	Palace Super Falcons (2)	Gauteng
2012	Palace Super Falcons (3)	Gauteng
2013	Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies (1)	Gauteng
2014	Cape Town Roses Ladies	Western Cape
2015	Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies (2)	Gauteng
2016	Bloemfontein Celtics Ladies (1)	Free State
2017	Bloemfontein Celtics Ladies (2)	Free State
2018	TUT Ladies	Gauteng
2019	JVW FC	Gauteng
2020	not held	N/A
2021	Vasco da Gama	Western Cape
2022	Copperbelt Ladies	Limpopo
2023	University of Fort Hare	Eastern Cape

References

1. South African Football Association https://www.safa.net/safa-sasol-womens-league/. Retrieved 11 October 2023. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. "ABOUT THE SASOL LEAGUE". Sasol in Sport. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
3. "Sasol and SAFA launch the 2023 Sasol League National Championship". South African Football Association. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
4. "Sasol League Regulations" (PDF). South African Football Association. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
5. "Absa Women's League launched". SuperSport official website. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
6. "Women's football league kicks off - Brand South Africa". Brandsouthafrica.com. 20 February 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
7. "Absa launch Women's League". Kickoff.com. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
8. "Competition and Player Development : A comparison between South America and Germany" (PDF). Cies.ch. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
9. Cynthia Fabrizio Pelak. (PDF). History.msu.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
10. Shehu, Jimoh (18 November 2017). Gender, Sport and Development in Africa: Cross-cultural Perspectives on Patterns of Representations and Marginalization. African Books Collective. ISBN 9782869783065. Retrieved 18 November 2017 – via Google Books.
11. Cornelissen, Scarlett; Grundlingh, Albert (13 September 2013). Sport Past and Present in South Africa: (Trans)forming the Nation. Routledge. ISBN 9781317988588. Retrieved 18 November 2017 – via Google Books.
12. Alegi, Peter (14 February 2010). African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World's Game. Ohio University Press. ISBN 9780896804722. Retrieved 18 November 2017 – via Google Books.
13. "Safa planning to launch a national women's league". Goal.com. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
14. "About the Sasol League". Sasol in Sport. Retrieved 11 October 2023.