A meeting date to plan for the new season of the SASOL League in Mpumalanga Province has been set for Tuesday 19 February 2019 at The Ridge Casino, eMalahleni at 6pm. The pre-season meeting will discuss the league format which is expected to be a one stream league with a total of sixteen (16) teams.
The sixteen (16) team league will be a totally new experience for the girls who will be involved in Mpumalanga SASOL League this season. The much talked about SAFA National Women League will also add spice to the competitiveness of the league which will be more intensive than previous seasons. The league was divided into two (2) streams (A&B) last year after the clubs and South African Football Association (SAFA) could not come to an agreement of playing under one stream. The clubs had complained of the distance between venues and the non-payment of the transport subsidy grant before the start of the league. There was no agreement reached and they were allowed to play with two different streams of eight (8) teams each.
The stream A was made up of clubs based in Nkangala and the Gert Sibande Region while stream B had clubs from the Ehlanzeni and Bohlabela Region. The two streams played from May to September 2018 with Coal City Wizards FC and Nkomazi Ladies FC emerging as champions of their respective streams.
The two clubs played against each other to determine the overall winner of the league at the Mpumalanga Positional Playoffs at Kanyamazane Stadium. Coal City Wizards FC won the playoff match 6-5 on penalties after the two clubs had played a 0-0 draw at regulation time and got promoted to the soon to be launched National Women Football League.
Some of the discussions will probably include the promotion and relegation of clubs, whether the clubs involved in the SASOL League will get a chance to be promoted to the National Women League or wait. There has been talks of beginning the National Women League with twelve (12) teams and playing the first two seasons without promotion and relegation of teams. The National Women Football League launch was planned to begin in April 2019 but has been moved to July 2019 because of the upcoming FIFA Women World Cup to play in June.
Mpumalanga Sasol league under way and three games has been played so far for both Stream A & B