18 October 2024 – South African Football Association (SAFA) President Dr Danny Jordaan has congratulated UCT of the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal’s Ezemvelo FC after the two sides were promoted to the Hollywoodbets Super League on Friday.
UCT and Ezemvelo FC won their semi-final matches in the 2024 Sasol League National Championships at Loerie Park Sports Grounds in Knysna, Western Cape, and earned promotion after beating Kovies 4-0 and Ramatlaohle Ladies 1-0 respectively. They won promotion automatically after reaching the final.
“Congratulations to the two teams for this achievement. WE applaud their rise up the ranks and it can only make the development of women’s football stronger,” the SAFA President said.
UCT’s promotion means that another university has joined the growing ranks of the current universities in the Hollywoodbets Super League. UCT will join the University of Johannesburg, University of Pretoria, TUT Matsatsantsa Ladies, University of Fort Hare and UWC. The presence of the universities in the upper echelons of women’s football in the country underlines the importance of education as part of sport, an approach wholly emphasised by SAFA
Women’s Football leads the way in SAFA’s commitment to “a healthy mind in a healthy body“ by combining sport and education. The importance of education is a priority for all SAFA youth teams. Banyana Banyana is leading the way with the majority of the South African senior women’s national team players being graduates.
This principle is strengthened by encouraging universities to participate in the Sasol and Hollywoodbets leagues to ensure that players are not “lost “ to football during their university years.
SAFA is happy with the enthusiastic response from the universities.
Ezemvelo FC and UCT will battle it out in the final on Sunday, 20 October 2024 to see who will be crowned 2024 Sasol League National Champions.
