2022–23 National First Division

The 2022–23 National First Division (called the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the season from September 2022 to June 2023 of South Africa's second tier of professional soccer, the National First Division.

National First Division

Season	2022–23
Champions	Polokwane City
Promoted	Cape Town Spurs
Matches played	79
Top goalscorer	(15 goals) Ashley Cupido (Cape Town Spurs )
Biggest home win	JDR Stars 6-0 Magesi 13 September 2022
Biggest away win	Platinum City Rovers 1-4 Tshakhuma (14 September 2022)
Highest scoring	JDR Stars 6-0 Magesi 13 September 2022 TUKS 3-3 Black Leopards 21 October 2022
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

Previous sponsors GladAfrica pulled out after three years of their five-year deal, and were replaced by Patrice Motsepe, with the competition being renamed the Motsepe Foundation Championship.^[1][2]

Teams

Team changes

The following teams changed division since the 2021–22 season.

Promoted to 2022–23 South African Premier Division

• Richards Bay^[3]

Relegated from 2021 to 2022 South African Premier Division

• Baroka^[4]

Promoted from 2021–22 SAFA Second Division

• MM Platinum
• Magesi^[5]

Relegated from 2021–22 National First Division

• TS Sporting^[6]
• Jomo Cosmos^[7]

Renaming

• Cape Town All Stars relocated from Cape Town to Johannesburg at the start of the season, and were renamed All Stars^[8]

Purchased statuses

• Free State Stars sold their status to Casric Stars^[9]

Stadiums and locations

Johannesburg

Pretoria

Baroka

Black Leopards

Cape Town Spurs

Casric Stars

Hungry Lions

Platinum City

Polokwane City

TTM

Uthongathi

Venda Football Academy

Johannesburg and Pretoria teams
All Stars
JDR Stars
Pretoria Callies
University of Pretoria

Location of teams in the 2022–23 National First division.

16 teams are competing in the season.^[10]

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
All Stars	Brakpan[11]	Tsakane Stadium
Baroka	Polokwane	Old Peter Mokaba Stadium	15,000
Black Leopards	Polokwane	Pietersburg Stadium	15,000
Cape Town Spurs	Cape Town	Athlone Stadium	34,000
Casric Stars	KwaMhlanga [12]	Solomon Mahlangu Stadium
Hungry Lions	Kathu	Sivos Training Centre Stadium	1,500
JDR Stars	Pretoria (Soshanguve)	Giant Stadium	18,000
Magesi	Moletši	TT Cholo Sports Ground	15,000
MM Platinum (La Masia)	Johannesburg	Bidvest Stadium	5,000
Platinum City	Potchefstroom	Olën Park	22,000
Polokwane City	Polokwane	Pietersburg Stadium	15,000
Pretoria Callies	Pretoria	Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium	28,900
Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila	Thohoyandou	Thohoyandou Stadium	20,000
University of Pretoria	Pretoria	Tuks Stadium	8,000
Uthongathi	Durban (KwaMashu)	Princess Magogo Stadium	12,000
Venda Football Academy	Thohoyandou	Thohoyandou Stadium	20,000

Table

As of 9 June 2023^[13][14]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Polokwane City	30	17	6	7	44	24	+20	57	Promotion to 2023-24 Premiership
2	Cape Town Spurs	30	17	6	7	42	27	+15	57	Promotion Play-offs
3	Casric Stars	30	15	11	4	37	25	+12	56
4	All Stars	30	12	12	6	37	25	+12	48
5	Hungry Lions	30	13	8	9	30	28	+2	47
6	JDR Stars	30	12	9	9	40	25	+15	45
7	Uthongathi	30	10	11	9	33	30	+3	41
8	TUKS	30	9	13	8	32	31	+1	40
9	Baroka	30	11	6	13	37	37	0	39
10	Pretoria Callies	30	10	9	11	27	29	−2	39
11	Venda FA	30	10	8	12	26	33	−7	38
12	Magesi	30	10	7	13	22	32	−10	37
13	La Masia	30	8	8	14	33	39	−6	32
14	Platinum City Rovers	30	7	9	14	21	37	−16	30
15	Tshakhuma	30	6	5	19	25	46	−21	23	Relegation to 2023-24 SAFA Second Division
16	Black Leopards	30	4	10	16	21	39	−18	22

Source: National First Division

Results

Home \ Away	ALS	BAR	BLP	CTS	CAS	HUL	JDR	LAM	MAG	PLK	PCR	PCL	TTM	TUKS	UTH	VFA
All Stars	—	2–1	0–0	0–0	2–2	3–0	1–1	2–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–3	0–0	4–0
Baroka	0–0	—	1–0	2–3	1–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	2–1	3–1	1–2	2–1	1–2	3–1
Black Leopards	1–3	0–1	—	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	1–2	1–2	2–0	2–2	1–2	1–1
Cape Town Spurs	2–0	3–2	2–1	—	2–0	1–0	0–1	3–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–2	3–2	1–1	2–0	2–1
Casric Stars	0–0	2–1	3–1	1–0	—	2–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–3	2–1	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–1
Hungry Lions	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	—	2–1	1–0	1–2	2–1	3–2	1–1	3–0	1–1	1–0	2–0
JDR Stars	2–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–2	—	1–1	6–0	2–2	5–0	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–3	2–0
La Masia	1–2	4–2	2–0	1–2	2–1	2–0	2–0	—	0–1	1–2	0–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–0
Magesi	1–0	1–2	0–1	1–2	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–0	—	0–2	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–0
Polokwane City	2–1	0–0	3–0	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	—	0–0	4–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	1–0
Platinum CR	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–2	—	0–0	1–4	0–1	1–0	0–1
Pretoria Callies	0–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	—	0–0	0–1	1–2	1–0
Tshakhuma	2–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	0–5	2–0	2–0	0–2	1–2	0–1	—	1–2	1–2	2–0
TUKS	1–0	1–3	3–3	3–2	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–3	2–0	—	2–1	1–1
Uthongathi	0–2	2–0	2–2	0–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	4–4	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	—	1–1
Venda FA	0–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	3–0	0–1	3–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 4 November 2022. Source: National First Division
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Statistics

As of 15 June 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ashley Cupido	Cape Town Spurs	15
2	Kgomotso Mosadi	Casric Stars	12
	Ishmael Wadi	JDR Stars

^[15]

Play-offs

Pos	Lge	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	NFD	Cape Town Spurs (P)	4	3	1	0	3	0	+3	10	Promoted to the 2023-24 South African Premier Division
2	PRE	Maritzburg United	4	2	1	1	4	1	+3	7
3	NFD	Casric Stars	4	0	0	4	0	6	−6	0

Updated to match(es) played on 13 June 2023. Source: https://thenfd.co.za/promotional-playoffs-2023-update
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored;
(P) Promoted

See also

• 2022-23 South African Premiership
• 2022-23 Nedbank Cup