Cloud 9 F.C.

African Winners
Founded	1989
Ground	Bhisho Stadium
Capacity	N/A
Owner	Anele Mbambani
League	Vodacom League,; Eastern Cape Province
2010-11 season	10

African Winners is a South African association football club founded in 1989.^[1] The team originate from King William's Town in the Eastern Cape. Since September 2010, they have been competing in the Eastern Cape stream of Vodacom League, with the new name Cloud 9.

History

By the end of the 2009–10 season, the team had won SAFA Amathole-SAB Stream B, and thereby qualified for the Amathole District Championship, to be held 13 March at Jan Smuts Stadium in East London, Eastern Cape. Each year the two best teams from Stream A and Stream B will meet at the District Championship to decide the overall champion after a round robin stage. The overall District champion will then subsequently participate at the Provincial Playoffs for Vodacom League.^[1]

African Winners managed to win the Regional Amathole District Championship 2010, after a: 2–0 win against FC Buffalo, 3–1 win against Young Aces and a 2–2 draw against TUBS. The next challenge was to participate at the SAB-Castle Regional League Provincial Playoffs, to be held May 2010 in Port Elizabeth, where the two best teams would win promotion to the Vodacom League. The provincial playoffs were however won by Happy Brothers and Kokstad Liverpool, with African Winners finishing just behind. At first this meant no qualification for African Winners to the Vodacom League, but the team then decided to buy the league franchise held by the team Cloud 9, and thereby bought themselves a ticket to the Vodacom League.^[1]^[2]

As a curiosity, one of the teams local rivals from the Amathole District, FC Buffalo, at the same time opted to follow the same economical promotion path to the Eastern Cape Stream of Vodacom League, as they purchased the Franchise position from The Guys F.C.^[2]^[3]

Despite the fact, that African Winners ahead of the 2010–11 season had bought the Vodacom League Franchise from Cloud 9, it can be seen from the data published by SAFA,^[4] that the club apparently decided to trash their old name, and preferred to continue in the 2010–11 season with the name Cloud 9, at the venue Bredbach Sport Field.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "African Winners Football Club". Facebook website. 2009.
^ ^a ^b "Big responsibility for African Winners". Daily Dispatch. April 2010.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "EC Vodacom League teams meet for pre-season planning". Daily Dispatch. 23 August 2010. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011.
^ "Vodacom League - 2010/11 season - Eastern Cape Province - Results and fixtures". SAFA Logs and Results. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2011.

External links

SAFA Official Website – database with results of Vodacom League Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine

[Facebook_website-1] "African Winners Football Club". Facebook website. 2009.

[Amathole_teams_buy_a_ticket_to_Vodacom_League-2] "Big responsibility for African Winners". Daily Dispatch. April 2010.^{[permanent dead link]}

[3] "EC Vodacom League teams meet for pre-season planning". Daily Dispatch. 23 August 2010. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011.

[4] "Vodacom League - 2010/11 season - Eastern Cape Province - Results and fixtures". SAFA Logs and Results. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2011.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Seasons in South African soccer
Premiership teams (2024–25)	AmaZulu Cape Town City Chippa United Golden Arrows Kaizer Chiefs Magesi Marumo Gallants Mamelodi Sundowns Pirates Polokwane City Richards Bay Royal AM Sekhukhune United Stellenbosch SuperSport United TS Galaxy
First Division teams (2024–25)	Baroka Black Leopards Cape Town Spurs Casric Stars Durban City Highbury Hungry Lions JDR Stars Kruger United Leruma United Milford Orbit College Pretoria Callies 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
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
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
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
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 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
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
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