Santos FC chairman Goolam Allie has confirmed that the club has been reinstated in the ABC Motsepe League and will play their first game next week after a couple of months in the wilderness.
SAFA expelled Santos FC from the third division in late October 2025 following an administrative dispute.
The Cape Town club had been locked in a legal battle with SAFA following their exclusion from the Nedbank Cup playoffs due to outstanding financial obligations.
While the ruling favoured Santos, Allie stressed that he never sought personal glory, but wanted to ensure fairness for the players caught up in off-field problems.
Subsequently, Santos, known as the People’s Team, now face a challenging task: making up five matches they missed during their absence. Allie revealed a plan to get the team back on track by increasing their match load over the remaining five months of the season.
SANTOS TO PLAY CATCH-UP IN THE ABC MOTSEPE LEAGUE
“Yes, we are back. We have been reinstated where we belong. We are playing our next game in the next week,” chairman Goolam Allie told FARPost.
“How I feel, firstly winning the case? I can’t feel great about it because it is something that is correct. It should be happening. I can’t put a feather on my cap for this.
“Winning the case means the rules of the game have been upheld. They applied the rules, and it is proper. I am this team is back, just for the sake of my players,” he said.
“I could not expect my players to keep making sacrifices based on the actions of our administrators. We have five games behind; we will have to play catch-up.
“We intend to play one game extra per month. The season has five months left. We will catch up with the five games.
“Once a month, we can play two matches a week. So it will be one midweek game and another on the weekend each month. Our aim and objectives for the season remain the same. We need to get out of this league. There is no other goal other than to desperately get out.”
“We are going with a positive attitude. Our first game is against one of the top teams, Vasco da Gama. That game will set the tone for us as to where we stand. Vasco is one of the top teams,” Allie added.
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