Football in South Africa, like in most places, started when the British brought it there. Until the end of apartheid, the beautiful game in the country has been deeply affected by the segregation: an all-white football association (FASA) was formed in 1892, but an Indian, a Bantu and an African Coloured association soon followed. As a demonstration of the effect that racial discrimination had on South African football, the country was suspended by FIFA for over thirty years, from 1961 to 1992, not allowing them to participate in international competitions and greatly hurting the growth of the sport. When the apartheid was beginning to fall, a new football association, SAFA, was born, and the South African national team finally played again after more than two decades. Apart from the social improvements, the abolition of apartheid produced possibly a golden era for South African football: the country managed to develop a competitive professional league, the Premier Soccer League, it hos...
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