Parent's Guide to SAFA Player Registration and Transfers Under-18 2026

Under SAFA Competitions Uniform Rule 13:

• An amateur player's registration is valid only for the season in which the registration form is signed.
• It expires at the end of that season, which for this rule is 31 May, or four days after the team's last match of the season, whichever is later.
• After that, the player is a free agent and may sign for another team for the next season, after getting a clearance certificate from their existing team.

So moving clubs between seasons doesn't need the old club's agreement, but it does need the clearance certificate. If the club refuses or fails to issue a clearance the player is entitled to, the player can apply to SAFA to be declared a free agent.

Under SAFA Competitions Uniform Rule 15:

• A transfer happens by agreement between the clubs, with the player's consent.
• The transfer must be in writing, signed by a designated official of the old club as recorded with SAFA.
• The old club gives the player and SAFA a signed clearance, confirming the player is in good standing and stating whether they are amateur or professional. The new club then registers the player officially.
• For a mid-season transfer during a registration window, the old club must hand over the player's registration card when the transfer certificate is signed. Failing to do so is misconduct.

Limits in one season

• A player may not play for more than three clubs, or be registered more than twice by the same team, in the SAFA league competitions.
• A player may not go back to the team they started the season with, or a team they officially left, until 30 days have passed.

Transfers can only be registered in the registration periods: February to October for the SAFA Junior Football League; September-October plus a February window for men's football; February-March plus a July-August window for women's football.

Under SAFA Competitions Uniform Rule 13.7, a player may apply to SAFA to be declared a free agent within 30 days of any of these:

• the club has ceased to exist as a club under SAFA's jurisdiction
• the club refuses or fails to issue a clearance certificate the player is entitled to
• it is in the interest of fairness and equity

Once declared a free agent, the player can register with a new club.

Disputes between a player and a club about registration or transfer within South Africa are decided by SAFA's Dispute Resolution Committee (Rules 13.9 and 20). The party raising the dispute lodges a written notice with the relevant SAFA official, with the dispute fee: R3 500 in the Regional Leagues and SAFA Junior Football Leagues, or R10 000 in the Provincial Leagues (Rule 17.1.3). Either party can appeal the committee's decision.

Only expenses. Under the SAFA Competitions Uniform Rules (Rule 13):

• Players in SAFA's amateur competitions are amateurs unless a contract says otherwise, and any such contract must be lodged with SAFA.
• A player who has never received anything beyond the actual expenses of taking part in football is an amateur.
• These can be reimbursed without losing amateur status: travel and hotel costs for a match, and the cost of the player's equipment, insurance and training.
• A player who has ever been paid more than those expenses for football is treated as a professional, unless they have regained amateur status or lodged a contract with SAFA recording professional or semi-professional status.

SAFA insures registered players and officials while on official assignments (Rule 34).

Previously registered abroad (SAFA Competitions Uniform Rule 16): a player registered with a club outside South Africa can't be registered with a SAFA league club until SAFA has received an international transfer certificate (ITC) from that country's association. Only SAFA can request the ITC, after the new club asks in writing.

Foreign player limits (Rule 12)

• A "foreign player" is anyone who is neither a South African citizen nor a foreign-born national with permanent residence under section 25 of the Immigration Act.
• The foreign player rules don't apply in the SAFA Junior Football Leagues (U13 and U15).
• At Local Football Association level, any number may be registered, but such a team can't be promoted.
• At Regional level and above, a team may register no more than three foreign players.
• To register, a foreign player must produce a valid passport, plus (for refugees) a valid asylum seeker permit, or a valid work, study or other permit under the Immigration Act, and an ITC if previously registered abroad.

For professional registration of under-18s from abroad, see the PSL protections for minors in this guide: international transfers are generally only allowed when the family moves to South Africa for non-football reasons.

Training compensation pays clubs that developed a young player when the player turns professional. It is paid club to club: under the NSL Handbook, no compensation is payable to anyone other than a club, so it is never paid to the player or the parents.

From a SAFA amateur club to a semi-pro or pro club (SAFA Competitions Uniform Rule 13.8): a semi-professional or professional club that signs a player from the SAFA official competitions must compensate the player's club for developing them, at a fee agreed by the clubs, guided by FIFA's development compensation principles.

Within the PSL (NSL Handbook rules 46-49):

• A player's training and development is treated as happening between ages 12 and 21.
• Compensation is paid when the player signs a first professional contract, and on each later transfer before their 23rd birthday while professional.
• Current rates: R50 000 a year for a Premier Division club (category 1) and R25 000 a year for a National First Division club (category 2). Years between ages 12 and 15 are paid at the category 2 rate whatever the club. The PSL Executive Committee can change the rates before each season's first registration period.
• The PSL's Dispute Resolution Chamber can award extra compensation to a club with a dedicated youth academy that trained the player, up to what the club actually spent.
• Transfers to or from a club in another country follow FIFA's rules.

The NSL Handbook (adopted 2 December 2025), which governs PSL clubs, says:

• A club may not sign an employment contract with a player who hasn't reached their 15th birthday (rule 41.7).
• A contract with a minor (under 18) is only valid if signed by both the minor and a parent or legal guardian (rule 41.6). The parent or guardian also signs the contract front page lodged with the league (rule 31.8.5).
• A contract longer than three years is only allowed if the player was 18 or older when signing (rule 41.8).
• When the club registers the player it must also lodge a medical certificate signed by a doctor and, if the player was previously an amateur, a clearance certificate from the previous club or an order declaring the player a free agent.

International transfers of minors (rule 36): unless SAFA decides otherwise on the parent's or guardian's application, a player under 18 may only transfer internationally when the family moves to South Africa for reasons not linked to football. A non-South African under 18 can't be registered as a professional for the first time unless the player and a parent or guardian are lawfully resident in South Africa.

Under the PSL's DStv Diski Challenge Rules (the November 2020 edition, which is the version the PSL publishes), only players who are:

• Under-23 (in the rules' definition, a player who doesn't turn 22 until on or after 1 January of the year the competition starts)
• South African citizens or permanent residents
• part of the Premier Division club's own structures (not guest players), and
• issued with a PSL Reserve League registration card

are eligible.

To register a player who is registered with SAFA, the club must give the PSL a reserve league registration form, a certified copy of the player's ID or passport, the player's SAFA card, and a parent consent letter where the player is a minor (under 18). Applications must be made at least three working days before the match.

The rules allow the PSL to amend them at any time by circular.