The South African Women’s Football league has been thrown into disarray with more postponements for the third week running.
On Thursday night (13 March 2025 the South African Football Association (SAFA) issued an update saying the delay is due to on-going contract negotiations with the league’s sponsor, Hollywoodbets.
“The South African Football Association (SAFA) has given an update on this season’s Hollywoodbets Super League and would like to notify all stakeholders that there will be a delay in the kick-off of some fixtures this month. This is due to the ongoing negotiations and approval process between the two parties, SAFA and Hollywood Sportsbook Holdings (Hollywoodbets), that is taking longer than anticipated,” said the statement.
“SAFA regrets the disruption that started on 1 March 2025 with the postponement of some of the fixtures; televised matches continued as we are committed to the broadcast programme by our broadcast partner, the SABC, while the approval process is underway. This ensures that the return on investment via broadcast is not impacted by this delay in SAFA’s efforts to meet its obligations.”
But the whole behind-the-scenes boardroom drama has left coaches and players frustrated.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, some coaches had this to say:
“All the pre-season work has gone down the drain because we don’t know when we will play again. We had programmes that we were following but these postponements have meant that we must adjust every time. Some of us have accepted that if our scheduled game is not on television, then we won’t play,” said one.
“I am just worried because this is the WAFCON year, with so much backlog, come towards the tournament Banyana Banyana will need a longer camp which will further pile up the backlog. There is also the Women’s Champions League – and it’s highly likely that towards the end of the season we might find ourselves playing catch up matches at breakneck speed, which could lead to injuries,” added another.
After a break of two-and-a-half months, the 2025 Hollywoodbets Super League season was scheduled to kick off on Saturday, 1 March with all 16 teams in action, but some clubs were sent a communique informing them their games have been postponed – with only two matches, which were to be broadcast live on television, to go ahead.
The two games were played on Sunday (2 March) with the University of Johannesburg (UJ Ladies) defeating newcomers University of Cape Town (UCT) 1-0 at the UJ Soccer Stadium in Soweto. Earlier in the day, at the same venue, JVW beat new kids on the block Ezemvelo Ladies 3-2.
With teams expecting to play in week two, the matches were postponed again and only two went ahead.
This time the venue was the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville, where reigning champions Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies brushed aside JVW in a 2-0 win, while TUT Matsatsantsa Ladies and First Touch Ladies shared the spoils in a goalless draw.
With week three coming up, the same scenario is playing out again after teams were informed that only two games will go ahead.
“Kindly receive your Hollywoodbets Super League Fixture Week 3. Note – we will have only two matches on Saturday and all matches including the mid-week 19th March are postponed till further notice,” said the latest communique from SAFA to the clubs.
Based on the above, Copperbelt Ladies will host Durban Ladies, while First Touch Ladies will be up against TS Galaxy Queens in a double header serving at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, 15 March – with the rest of the teams not in action.
As matters stand, the University of Fort Hare, University of the Western Cape, City Lads Ladies, Royal AM, Richmond United, Copperbelt Ladies, TS Galaxy Queens, Durban Ladies and the University of Pretoria are yet to kick a ball in the new season.
JVW has already played twice, while there has been one match each for Sundowns Ladies, UJ Ladies, First Touch Ladies, TUT Matsatsantsa Ladies, as well as newcomers Ezemvelo Ladies and the University of Cape Town (UCT).
With the negotiations still carrying on, it is not clear when the matter will be concluded.
“SAFA will update the clubs and all stakeholders on the fixtures in the coming month as we seek to align with the desire to finish the league programme on time while also allowing time for Banyana Banyana to continue with their preparations for WAFCON,” concluded the SAFA statement.
By Matlhomola Morake
