# 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.

## 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.
| Year | Winner |
| NPSL ||||
| 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 |