1996–97 National First Division

National First Division

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

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

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.

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

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:
(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:
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated