African Cup of Nations

African Cup of Nations - Held every two years for members of CAF, the Confederation of African Football, held since 1968, following its introduction in 1957. 16 teams participate in the final, held in January. Cameroon, Egypt and Ghana head the winners table. See Wikipedia for background, winners etc

• BBC Sport Coverage of African Cup of Nations including latest news information, records, history and winners
• Sports Scheduler
• South African Soccer Tornaments From Sport iAfrica
• Caf Online
• Soccer Weblog
• Planning to watch the 2006 cup? From the About Team
• Archived information From Rsssf
• Past performance of African Nations

History of Football in South Africa

The first documented matches took place in 1862 between White civil servants and soldiers in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.

South African winners

Which teams hold the trophies? The 2005 / 2006 Premiership title was won by a Pretoria based side - Mamelodi Sundowns , second and third placed were two of the most popular clubs Orlando Pirates and Kaiser Chiefs who are both based in Johannesburg. Kaiser Chiefs who are probably the most recognised side in southern Africa won the title in 2003 / 2004 and 2004 / 2005. This year they triumphed in a pre season 3 team round robin tournament which involved a Manchester United squad. They beat the English team on penalties in the final game

South African national side

The National Team "Bafana Bafana" International soccer interest in South Africa is now tending towards the 2010 world cup and the 2009 CONCAF cup to be hosted by an African nation for the first time In an effort to improve their own national side the experienced Brazilian - Carlos Alberto Parreira - was recently appointed new coach to the SouthAfrican squad See Wikipedia for more detail.

• South Africa National Team From Authentic Soccer, providing a brief overview of the team and its performances
• Bafana Bafana From Sportscheduler provides good coverage of all the national squads, including Events
• South African Soccer From South Africa Info, covering the broad soccer scene, including "The Boys"
• African Soccer Team From AWorld of Soccer.com
• Cape Times Soccer
• Cosafa Both men and women's k.o. event for teams in southern Africa ( Zambia and south)
• Africans Cup of Nations News, results and reports of SA progress in their group
• South Africa National Team From Authentic Soccer, providing a brief overview of the team and its performances

The SA League Structure

Besides the senior men's side, there are national representative sides at under 23 , under 20 and under 17 level, and strong women's sides at under 19 and senior level. Professional teams play in all provinces and the highest league - the Premiership (P.S.L ) -involves 16 professional clubs. The season is mid August to the end of May Promotion / relegation is on a 2 up / 2 down basis from / to the national first division. The first division is fed from national play offs involving the different provincial log leaders. In addition there are various knock-out cups.

• Premier Soccer league of South Africa Official site; news, standings, results,teams
• Background from Wikipedia With history, teams, stats
• Kick-off South Africa Tournaments, teams, forum,fantasy league
• Black leopards
• Bloemfontein Celtic
• Silver Stars United
• Wits University

The Cups

The major competitions played in SA are: Absa cup- all teams; Coca cola cup - premier teams only; SAA Supa 8 competition -top premiership teams; Telkom Charity cup - 4 teams voted most popular by the fans

• Telkom Charity Cup Official Site. Standings, press corner ....
• 2006 details From Sports Scheduler
• Telcom Knockout From Wikipedia. The Telkom Knockout is a football (soccer) knockout competition which comprises the 16 teams in the South African Premier Soccer League. It was started in 1992, called the Coca-Cola Cup and was played until 1996, when it was replaced by the Rothmans Cup which was changed back to the Coca-Cola Cup in 2001 due to the new rules regarding tobacco sponsorship in sport. Telkom became the new sponsors in 2006.
• Telcom Knockout Cup For the premier soccer league clubs; background from Wikepedia

Women's Soccer

The women's soccer section is played in provincial leagues with the two top sides in each league going through to a national play off to determine the women's champions. In 2002 the senior women's national side were crownedthe COSAFA cup champions.

• Women's Soccer in South Africa March 2004 from South Africa Information site
• Highlights From SAFA

Professional Football - soccer in South Africa

• Wikipedia gives a description of the Premier Soccer League, the trading name for the top league in South Africa. Has history, teams, stats etc