National Professional Soccer League (South Africa)

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.

NPSL First Division

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

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.^[1] 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.^[1]

1985–1995

The remaining part of the NPSL continued to co-exist as an independent league, meaning South Africa had three top division leagues; the NSL, the NPSL and the Federation Professional League (FPL). When the NPSL folded, the remaining teams played the following 1996–97 season in the NSL 2nd Division, renamed as the National First Division.^[2]

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Third-place
NPSL[3]
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