Player's Guide to SAFA Women's Football Senior 2026

Season: SAFA's women's competitions run from February to November (SAFA Competitions Uniform Rule 4.1.1). The Sasol League is played over two rounds starting on 1 February, or as soon as possible after; team entries are due by 31 January.

Registration periods for women's football (Rule 14.2):

• main registration in February and March
• a window period in July and August

What your club submits for you (Rule 14.5):

• the registration form from the team's registration book
• your passport or ID (certified copy)
• your transfer or clearance certificate, if you were with another team
• a completed medical report
• three recent colour passport-sized photos

The forms must go in within five days of signing, and your card is issued on the fifth working day after submission. No card, no play.

In the Sasol League, a team may register 22 players at no cost; each extra player costs R60. Each team also registers five officials free of charge.

Under SAFA Competitions Uniform Rules 13 and 15:

Between seasons: an amateur registration is valid only for the season it was signed for. When it expires you are a free agent and can sign for another team for the next season, once you have a clearance certificate from your current team.

During the season:

• A transfer is by agreement between the clubs, with your written consent, and signed by a designated official of your current club.
• Your old club gives you and SAFA a signed clearance confirming you are in good standing and stating whether you are amateur or professional. Your new club then registers you.
• Mid-season transfers happen in the women's July-August window. Your old club must hand over your registration card when the transfer certificate is signed.

Limits in one season: you can't play for more than three clubs, or be registered more than twice by the same team, and you can't return to the team you started the season with, or one you officially left, for 30 days.

If your club won't release you: within 30 days you can apply to SAFA to be declared a free agent if your club has ceased to exist, refuses or fails to issue a clearance you're entitled to, or on grounds of fairness and equity.

A foreign player is a footballer who is neither a South African citizen nor a foreign-born national with permanent residence under section 25 of the Immigration Act.

SAFA Competitions Uniform Rule 12

• Local Football Association level: any number may be registered, but such a team can't be promoted.
• Regional, Inter-Regional/Provincial and National leagues: a team may register no more than three foreign players.

Sasol League Regulations

• Teams may register up to three foreign players for the regional club championships and the inter-regional/provincial play-offs. Registered foreign players may sit on the bench or play.
• No foreign players may be selected for the Provincial U-19 squads chosen after Phase 2, and no team may use foreign players at the Inter-Provincial Tournament / National Championships.

Documents: a foreign player must produce a valid passport and a valid permit under the Immigration Act (for example a visitor's, study, business, relative's, work, corporate, exchange or permanent residence permit), or, for a refugee, a valid asylum seeker permit. A player previously registered abroad also needs an international transfer certificate.

Only expenses. Under SAFA Competitions Uniform Rule 13:

• Players in SAFA's amateur leagues are amateurs unless there is a contract stating otherwise, which must be lodged with SAFA.
• You stay amateur if you have only ever received your actual expenses for football.
• Travel and hotel costs for a match, and the costs of your equipment, insurance and training, can be reimbursed without affecting amateur status.
• If you have ever been paid more than those expenses, you are treated as a professional, unless you've regained amateur status or lodged a contract with SAFA recording your professional or semi-professional status.

If a semi-professional or professional club signs you from a SAFA official competition, it must pay your club development compensation at a fee agreed between the clubs (Rule 13.8).

In the league (SAFA Competitions Uniform Rules 26 and 27):

• A suspension not completed by the end of the season is served at the start of the next season. Cautions don't carry over.
• SAFA doesn't have to notify you. It's up to you and your club to keep track of cards and make sure you serve the ban.
• A serious offence can go to a disciplinary hearing. Under the SAFA Disciplinary Code, for example, a direct red card for unsporting conduct towards a match official carries at least four matches, and assaulting one at least six months.

At the Sasol League National Championships the regulations are different: a red card means a two-match suspension and three yellow cards a one-match suspension.

SAFA's official competitions are played home and away, with 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss (SAFA Competitions Uniform Rule 32; the Sasol League plays two rounds from 1 February).

When teams finish level on points, they are separated by:

1. goal difference (goals for minus goals against)
2. goals scored
3. the aggregate of the direct results between the tied teams
4. if that is still level, the two teams' results are considered before a play-off at a neutral venue is decided on

Once the winners are declared on the final logs, no correspondence is entered into. In a province with two streams, the stream winners play home-and-away knock-out play-offs to decide the provincial champion, with penalties if the scores are level after the second leg.

Under SAFA's Sasol League Regulations:

• At the end of the season, once SAFA's Competitions Committee has verified each provincial league winner, the nine winners meet at one central venue.
• Format: a round-robin group phase in Group A and Group B; the top two in each group go to the semi-finals, then the final.
• Points: 3 for a win, 1 for a draw. Group ties are split by goal difference, then goals scored, then a once-off match decided on penalties if still level after 90 minutes.
• Squads: 18 players and two officials per team.
• Matches: 2 x 45 minutes with a 15-minute interval, a FIFA-approved size 5 ball, and three substitutes. Drawn knock-out matches go straight to penalties, with no extra time.
• Documents: each player needs her SAFA registration card and a South African green ID or valid South African passport. No foreign players may take part.
• Discipline: a red card means an automatic two-match suspension; three yellow cards mean a one-match suspension.
• Protests and complaints must be lodged with the Competitions Director, with the fee, within two hours of the match. The National Disciplinary Committee hears them the same day. An appeal goes to an arbitrator, who decides within 24 hours, and that decision is final.

According to SAFA, the Sasol League champions earn promotion to the Hollywoodbets Super League.

According to SAFA, the Hollywoodbets Super League (launched in 2019) is South Africa's premier women's league, with 14 teams that have earned their place through the Sasol Women's League provincial streams.