Cape Town will have another team campaigning in the ABSA Premiership. Stellenbosch FC has gained promotion after being crowned champions of the National First Division.
Stellies finished top of the log with 56 points, beating second placed Royal Eagles by 3 points.
Eagles will now play in the play-off’s between the 15th of May and the 1st of June to determine the second team that will play in the PSL next season.
National First Division leaders Stellenbosch FC who hosted tenth placed Maccabi FC needed just a single point to be crowned automatic champions.
Already on 55 points Stellenbosch led second placed Royal Eagles by just two points. After reaching 53 points last week, Eagles were guaranteed a top two finish.
Third placed Tshakhuma and Ajax who were both on 48 points can’t surpass Eagles’ point tally, and were therefore fighting for the final play-off spot.
The match failed to produce any goals in the first half. The best chance for Stellenbosch came early in the second half but Iqraam Rayners was denied his 20th goal of the season by the crossbar.
Despite their team failing to score on the day the local crowd started celebrating in injury time. Celebrations officially started after the final whistle.
Stellenbosch FC becomes the second club from the NFD to be promoted by coach Steve Barker. Barker helped the University of Pretoria gain promotion into the PSL seven seasons ago.
“Barker saying thanks to everyone including the players, management and supporters. He says they deserve to be playing in the PSL after a good and consistent performance,” says Barker.
Meanwhile second placed Royal Eagles visited relegation threatened Ubuntu Cape Town at the Athlone Stadium. Eagles had to win and Stellebosch had to lose to be crowned champions of the NFD.
It was the home side Ubuntu who scored first through Fawaaz Basadien in the 18th minute, and led 1-nil at the break. Ubuntu realised that they needed a lot of goals to move away from the relegation zone. The home-side continued to create more scoring opportunities than second placed Eagles and managed to win the game 1-0.
