1996–97 National First Division

The 1996–97 National First Division was the 1st season of the second tier of South African soccer since the reorganisation in 1996.

National First Division

Season	1996–97
Champions	Black Leopards, (Northern) Tembisa Classic (Southern) Santos (Western Cape) African Wanderers (Natal/Eastern Cape)
1997–98 →

It consisted of 76 clubs in four streams; Northern, Southern, Western Cape and Natal/Eastern Cape, with the winners being Black Leopards, (Northern), Tembisa Classic (Southern), Santos (Western Cape) and African Wanderers (Natal/Eastern Cape) respectively.^[1][2][3]

At the end of the season, the division was reduced to two stream of 20 teams each.^[1]

Northern Stream

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Black Leopards (C)	42	26	10	6	86	43	+43	88	Promoted to 1998–99 Premier Soccer League
2	Ria Stars	41	26	7	8	83	34	+49	85
3	Dynamos F.C.	42	24	11	7	93	42	+51	83
4	RP Mines	42	23	11	8	59	35	+24	80
5	Morning Stars	42	23	6	13	78	56	+22	75
6	Pretoria Callies	42	22	9	11	66	44	+22	75
7	Tsakane Aces	42	20	15	7	69	49	+20	75
8	Acornbush	42	21	9	12	68	38	+30	72
9	Ravens	42	20	11	11	68	47	+21	71
10	Benfica	42	20	11	11	54	40	+14	71
11	Oriental (R)	42	19	9	14	62	55	+7	66	Relegation to 1998–99 SAFA Second Division
12	Ferrometals (R)	42	17	12	13	52	54	−2	63
13	Middelburg (R)	42	18	8	16	63	65	−2	62
14	Witbank All Stars (R)	42	14	10	18	44	53	−9	52
15	Witbank City (R)	42	14	7	21	61	80	−19	49
16	Barberton (R)	42	11	11	20	51	81	−30	44
17	Highlanders (R)	42	11	8	23	42	70	−28	41
18	Barcelona (R)	42	9	9	24	23	34	−11	36
19	BA XI (R)	42	10	6	26	49	99	−50	36
20	Tihabane Swallows (R)	42	7	9	26	35	102	−67	30
21	Messina Kaizer XI (R)	42	7	4	31	34	63	−29	25
22	Rabali (R)	42	4	3	35	20	57	−37	15

Source: ^[2]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Western Cape Stream

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Santos (C, P)	30	26	1	3	88	19	+69	79	Qualified for playoffs
2	Seven Stars	30	24	3	3	77	23	+54	75
3	Trinitarians	30	17	5	8	52	38	+14	56
4	Avendale Athletico	30	16	4	10	48	29	+19	52
5	Wynberg St Johns	30	14	8	8	42	30	+12	50
6	Vasco da Gama	30	12	8	10	59	45	+14	44
7	Saxon Rovers	30	11	10	9	39	39	0	43
8	FNB Rangers	30	13	2	15	51	65	−14	41
9	Mutual (R)	30	12	4	14	40	61	−21	40	Relegation to 1997–98 SAFA Second Division
10	Edgemead (R)	30	10	6	14	42	46	−4	36
11	Battswood (R)	30	10	5	15	39	41	−2	35
12	Bellville (R)	30	8	7	15	33	45	−12	31
13	Camps Bay (R)	30	6	10	14	29	53	−24	28
14	Newtons (R)	30	6	6	18	33	56	−23	24
15	Norway Parks (R)	30	4	11	15	21	52	−31	23
16	Stephanians (R)	30	3	6	21	23	74	−51	15

Source: ^[2]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated