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National Professional Soccer League
Season	1978
Champions	Lusitano
Top goalscorer	Thomas ‘Junior’ Ngobe, 40 goals (Witbank Aces)
← 1977 NPSL 1977 NFL 1979 →

The 1978 National Professional Soccer League was the first season of the newly-formed multi-racial South African National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). The league was a merger of the previous NPSL, which due to the country's apartheid policies were for black teams only, and the National Football League, for white teams only. It was won by Lusitano.^[1]^[2]

The third professional league, the non-racial Federation Professional League, continued to function independently.

Lusitano's 13-0 victory over Mangaung United is the largest margin of victory in a top-flight league game in South Africa.^[3]

The top scorer was Witbank Ace's Thomas ‘Junior’ Ngobe, with 40 goals.^[4]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Lusitano	34	29	1	4	119	26	+93	59
2	Wits University	34	26	2	6	80	21	+59	54
3	Arcadia Shepherds	34	22	9	3	89	22	+67	53
4	Kaizer Chiefs	34	21	10	3	63	18	+45	52
5	Highlands Park	34	24	4	6	87	29	+58	52
6	Witbank Black Aces	34	23	6	5	88	41	+47	52
7	Pretoria Callies	34	19	11	4	49	27	+22	49
8	Benoni United	34	23	3	8	72	41	+31	49
9	Moroka Swallows	34	17	8	9	65	44	+21	42
10	Orlando Pirates	34	13	13	8	42	28	+14	39
11	Imperial Callies (R)	34	13	10	11	48	43	+5	36
12	Vaal Professionals	34	9	12	13	46	53	−7	30
13	Colchester United (R)	34	11	8	15	49	61	−12	30
14	Leicester City (R)	34	10	8	16	37	52	−15	28
15	Bloemfontein Celtic (R)	34	10	8	16	53	80	−27	28
16	AmaZulu	34	11	5	18	42	51	−9	27
17	Welkom Real Hearts (R)	34	8	8	18	34	43	−9	24
18	Pilkington United Bros	34	8	7	19	40	63	−23	23
19	Moroka Lions (R)	34	9	3	22	50	79	−29	21
20	African Wanderers	34	6	8	20	31	73	−42	20
21	Sobantu Manchester United (R)	34	5	9	20	31	69	−38	19
22	Lamontville Golden Arrows (R)	34	5	5	24	25	75	−50	15
23	Durban Bush Bucks (R)	34	4	6	24	26	83	−57	14
24	Mangaung United (R)	34	2	5	27	17	124	−107	9

Source: https://www.rsssf.org/tablesz/zaf78.html
(R) Relegated

Relegation criteria are unclear. The league was divided into two zones of 12 clubs, playing each team in their zone twice, and teams in the other zone once.^[2]

References

[edit]

^ "HISTORY". Benoni United FC. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
^ ^a ^b "South Africa 1978". www.rsssf.org. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
^ "Pirates close to matching PSL winning-margin record". SuperSport. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
^ Goldswain, Zita (20 November 2022). "Local legend soccer player honoured". Witbank News. Retrieved 27 November 2024.

v t e Seasons in South African soccer
Premiership teams (2025–26)	AmaZulu Chippa United Durban City Golden Arrows Kaizer Chiefs Magesi Marumo Gallants Mamelodi Sundowns Orbit College Pirates Polokwane City Richards Bay Sekhukhune United Stellenbosch Siwelele TS Galaxy
First Division teams (2025–26)	Baroka The Bees Black Leopards Cape Town City Casric Stars Gomora United Highbury Hungry Lions Kruger United Leicesterford City Lerumo Lions Midlands Wanderers Milford University of Pretoria Upington City Venda
Premiership	1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
National First Division	1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
SAFA Second Division	1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
South African Cup (Life Challenge Cup / Benson and Hedges Trophy / Mainstay Cup / Bob Save Superbowl / ABSA Cup / Nedbank Cup)	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Top 8 (BP Top 8 / MTN 8)	1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
League Cup (Datsun Challenge / JPS Knockout Cup / Coca Cola Cup / Rothmans Cup / Telkom Knockout / Carling Knockout Cup)	1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2023 2024 2025
Carling Black Label Cup	2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2019 2021 2022
National Football League	1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
Federation Professional League	1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
NPSL (1971-1977)	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
NPSL (1978-1984)	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
NPSL (1985-1995)	1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1984 1992 1983 1994 1995
National Soccer League (NSL)	1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
SASF Cup	1961 1962 1963 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
Telkom Charity Cup	1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Vodacom Challenge	1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011

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