2010–11 National First Division

2010–11 National First Division, was the season from September 2010 until May 2011, of South Africa's second tier of professional football. The overall NFD champion was promoted to the first level, known as Premier Soccer League (PSL). While the losing team of the championship final, faced a round robin playoff stage, against the second lowest ranked team of PSL and the two second ranked teams of the NFD streams.

National First Division

Season	2010–11
Champions	Jomo Cosmos
Promoted	Black Leopards
Relegated	Batau Hanover Park
Matches played	170
Goals scored	431 (2.54 per match)
← 2009–10 2011–12 →

Season structure

The league is made up of 16 teams, split into 2 streams. Each team plays the other 7 teams in their stream 3 times, for a total of 21 games. Teams receive 3 points for a win, 1 for draw, and 0 for a loss. At the end of the season, the top ranked team from each stream play in a two-legged final, the winner of which is crowned National First Division Champion, and gains automatic promotion to the Premier Soccer League for the next season. The loser of the final, along with the teams which came second in their streams, and the 15th placed PSL team, go into the PSL promotion play-offs. The two teams finishing in last place in their streams are automatically relegated to the Vodacom League. They are replaced by the finalists of the Vodacom League championship game.^{[citation needed]}

Club and stadium information

Coastal Stream (excl. Northern Cape):

Club	Location	Province	Stadium	Capacity
African Warriors	Phuthaditjhaba	Free State	Charles Mopeli Stadium	35,000
Bay United	Port Elizabeth	Eastern Cape	Gelvandale Stadium	3,000
Blackburn Rovers	East London	Eastern Cape	Buffalo City Stadium	16,000
Carara Kicks	Welkom	Free State	Goble Park	20,000
FC Cape Town	Cape Town (Parow)	Western Cape	NNK Rugby Stadium	5,000
Hanover Park	Cape Town (Wynberg)	Western Cape	Wynberg Military Base Stadium	2,500
Nathi Lions	Durban (KwaMashu)	KwaZulu-Natal	Princess Magogo Stadium	12,000
Thanda Royal Zulu	Richards Bay	KwaZulu-Natal	Richards Bay Stadium	8,000

Inland Stream (incl. Northern Cape):

Club	Location	Province	Stadium	Capacity
Batau	Ermelo	Mpumalanga	Stadium
Black Leopards	Thohoyandou	Limpopo	Stadium
Dynamos	Polokwane	Limpopo	Stadium
FC AK	Johannesburg	Gauteng	Stadium
Jomo Cosmos	Johannesburg	Gauteng	Stadium
University of Pretoria	Pretoria	Gauteng	Stadium
United	Kimberley	Northern Cape	Stadium
Witbank Spurs	Witbank	Mpumalanga	Stadium

Warriors

Bay United

Blackburn

Carara Kicks

Cape Town

Hanover Park

Nathi Lions

Thanda Royal

Location of teams in the 2010–11 National First Division.

League standings

Coastal Stream

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Bay United	21	11	7	3	29	13	+16	40	NFD Coastal Stream Champions 2010/2011
2	Thanda Royal Zulu	21	12	3	6	38	27	+11	39	Qualification for PSL promotion play-offs
3	Carara Kicks	21	7	11	3	32	31	+1	32
4	African Warriors	21	7	9	5	29	25	+4	30
5	F.C. Cape Town	21	4	11	6	23	20	+3	23
6	Blackburn Rovers	21	6	5	10	21	32	−11	23
7	Nathi Lions	21	3	9	9	27	31	−4	18
8	Hanover Park	21	4	5	12	23	43	−20	17	Relegation to the Vodacom League

Source: ^[1][2]

Inland Stream

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Jomo Cosmos	21	14	5	2	29	14	+15	47	NFD Inland Stream Champions 2010/2011
2	Black Leopards	21	11	5	5	33	21	+12	38	Qualification for PSL promotion play-offs
3	University of Pretoria	21	10	7	4	29	18	+11	37[a]
4	F.C. AK	21	7	6	8	27	24	+3	27
5	Witbank Spurs	21	6	6	9	22	26	−4	24
6	Dynamos	21	6	3	12	21	37	−16	21
7	United	21	6	5	10	17	24	−7	20[b]
8	Batau	21	4	3	14	31	45	−14	15	Relegation to the Vodacom League

Source: ^[1][2]
Notes:

1. Pretoria University initially won 2nd place in the Inland stream, due to a 3p penalty hitting Black Leopards, for fielding an unregistered player at one of their victories in the spring. Few days later the penalty was however reverted, as Black Leopards managed to win the appeal case. The log therefore ended to award the second place for Black Leopards.^[3]
2. 3 points deducted?

Post season

NFD Final

The winner of the two streams, Bay United and Jomo Cosmos will meet and play a two legged tie, on 14 May and 22 May, to determine the overall 2010–11 NFD championship. The NFD champion will gain an automatic promotion to the PSL. While the looser of the NFD Final will get a second chance to promote to PSL, at the Promotion Play Offs.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bay United	0–0 (penalty 4–5)	Jomo Cosmos	0–0 report	0–0 report

Promotion playoffs

The losing team of the NFD Final (Bay United), together with both runner-ups of the NFD streams (Thanda Royal Zulu and Black Leopards), and finally the second lowest ranked team of PSL (Vasco da Gama), entered into the promotion playoffs. This playoff competition was played as a cup with two legged matches, with an unseeded draw to decide the fixtures.^[4] The two semifinals were scheduled to be played simultaneously at 25 and 29 May. Due to Black Leopards having qualified for the 2011 Nedbank Cup final at 28 May, the two semifinals were however rescheduled, to be played at 8 and 11 June. A two legged final with the two winning teams from the semifinal, was played on 15 and 18 June.^[5] Only the winner of the promotion playoff final was get promoted to play the next season in PSL.^{[citation needed]}

Semifinals:

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bay United	4–1	Thanda Royal Zulu	0–0 report	4–1 report
Vasco da Gama	2–4	Black Leopards	1–1 report	1–3 report

Promotion playoff final:

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bay United	0–2	Black Leopards	0–0 report	0–2 report