The restructured NFD was divided into two streams, one inland and another coastal – each of which consisted of 8 teams.

In the opposite direction, the two best teams of SAFA Second Division will get promoted to the NFD, decided by a round robin playoff stage between the 9 provincial winners.

The first non-racial second level of South African football, was established in March 1987 as the OK League.

[4] When the new topflight South African Premiership was established in 1996, the organizers at the same time for the Second Level, replaced the former OK League with the new National First Division.

MTN had been rebuffed by the PSL in their efforts to sponsor the PSL-organised Charity Cup because Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs would refuse to play in the tournament as the two clubs were sponsored by MTN's telecommunication rivals, Vodacom.

The league was then initially unable to find a sponsor, and there was again a geographical split into two or four streams until the 2011–12 season.