Bidvest Wits Football Club, (simply often known as Wits University F.C. or Wits) was a South African professional football club from

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

which played in the

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

the first-tier of South African league football system. It was nicknamed "The Clever Boys" or "The Students" because of the close affiliation with the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

. The club was to sold at the conclusion of the 2019–20 Premier Soccer League season. This after Bidvest confirmed that it had reached an agreement for the sale of the club's top-flight status to Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM).

History

The club has its roots at Wits University in Johannesburg, where it was formed in 1921 by the university's Students Representatives Council. The club competed in a variety of tournaments and leagues before eventually winning promotion to the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

in 1975 – then South Africa's top domestic league. During the 1970s the club produced some of South Africa's finest players – amongst them

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

Gary Bailey Gary Richard Bailey (born 9 August 1958) is a former footballer who made nearly 300 appearances in the Football League playing as a goalkeeper for Manchester United. Born in Ipswich, Suffolk, he grew up in South Africa, but went on to be cappe ...

, who went on to play for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and defender

Richard Gough Charles Richard Gough (born 5 April 1962) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender. Gough played in the successful Dundee United team of the early 1980s, winning the Scottish league title in 1982–83 and reach ...

, who later played for

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in ...

, Rangers, Everton and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. The club won their first major title in 1978 – winning the Mainstay Cup after beating

Kaizer Chiefs Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) are a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premier Soccer League. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Lords" or "Chi ...

in the final of the competition. Six years later they picked up the BP Top 8, and a year later in 1985 they again beat Chiefs, this time in the final of the

JPS Knockout Cup JPS may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Jamestown Public Schools (disambiguation) * Japan Pension Service * Japan Photographic Society (19th century) * Japan Photographic Society (1924–) * Japan Professional Photographers Society * J ...

. The club finished 6th in the inaugural NSL season in 1985 while Scottish striker

Frank McGrellis Frank McGrellis (born 5 October 1958) is a Scottish football player and coach. He played for Coventry City, Huddersfield Town and Hereford United in England and Wits University in South Africa before playing and coaching at state level in Austr ...

was crowned the league's top scorer with a total of 29 league and cup goals. The 1990s saw mixed fortunes for the team. They won two trophies, the BP Top 8 and the Coca-Cola Cup in 1995 under coach

John Lathan John George Lathan (born 12 April 1952) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Sunderland. He was part of the Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the tow ...

. But a year later they dropped dangerously close to being relegated from the newly formed Premier Soccer League – only surviving thanks to a spirited win on the final day of the season against

Jomo Cosmos Jomo Cosmos are a South African association football club based in Johannesburg that plays in the National First Division. The club is owned and coached by South African football legend Jomo Sono. In the 2021-2022 National First Division seas ...

. Mid-table finishes followed in 1997 and 1998 before the club finished sixth in 1999–00 – helped largely by the inspirational form of centre back Peter Gordon, who played over 400 times for the club and won caps for

Bafana Bafana The South Africa national soccer team represents South Africa in men's international soccer and it is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for Soccer in South Africa. The team's nickname is Bafana Bafana (The Boys ...

(the South African National Team), and

Sam Magalefa Sammy Job Magalefa (born 26 April 1978) is a South African former footballer who played professionally as a midfielder in Greece and South Africa. He earned two caps and scored one goal for the South African national team, and was named to the ...

who finished as the club's top goalscorer. In 2000–01 the club finished a disappointing 13th under new Scottish coach Jim Bone. A year later former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Roger De Sa was appointed head coach, and he immediately restored order with the club finishing 7th in the PSL in 2002, thanks to a 3–1 victory on the final day of the season over

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...

. Under De Sa's reign things appeared to be looking up for Wits, with the club securing third-placed finishes in the PSL in 2003 and again in 2004. But in 2005 things took a turn for the worse, as De Sa's ultra-defensive tactics, coupled with a mass player exodus at the start of the season, saw the side score just 24 goals in 30 league matches to finish bottom of the league. At the start of the 2005–06 season, former

Santos Cape Town Santos Football Club or simply Santos, also officially known under their sponsored title as Engen Santos, is a South African professional soccer club based in the Lansdowne, a suburb of the city of Cape Town. It plays in the SAFA Second Divisio ...

and

Maritzburg United Maritzburg United is a South African football club based in the city of Pietermaritzburg that currently plays in the Premier Soccer League. Honours *First Division Coastal Stream champions: 2007–08 *First Division Championship Play-offs: 20 ...

coach Boebie Solomons was appointed as head coach, and Solomons' first season in charge brought a return to the PSL for the Clever Boys, with the club comfortably winning the Mvela Golden League (the second tier of South African football) after starting the season with six successive victories. In June 2007 Roger De Sa rejoined the club after a two-year absence. He replaced caretaker

Eric Tinkler Eric Tinkler (born 30 July 1970) is a South African football coach and former player who manages Cape Town City. Early and personal life Tinkler was born in Roodepoort. Club career Tinkler played club football for Wits University, União de T ...

who succeeded Boebie Solomons during the 2006–07 season. In 2010 Wits managed to win the

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's premier club soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of giving lower league and amateur teams a chance t ...

defeating AmaZulu in the final. The 2016–17 season saw Bidvest Wits win their first PSL title. Wits finished the season with 18 wins, 6 draws and 6 losses, and won the league by three points in a tightly contested season. They also won the MTN8 Cup in 2016 (beating 2016 CAF Champions League winners Mamelodi Sundowns) and the Telkom Cup (League Cup) in 2017.

Honours

Domestic competitions

** Winners: 2016–17 *

** Winners (2): 1978, 2010 *

Telkom Knockout The Telkom Knockout was a South African professional association football, football knockout competition which comprised the 16 teams in the South African Premier Soccer League. The competition was established in 1982 and was first known as the D ...

** Winners (3): 1985, 1995,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

MTN 8 MTN 8 is the current branding for a South African soccer cup competition launched in 1972 for teams who finished in the top 8 positions of the league table of the country's preceding top-flight league (currently the DStv Premiership) season. ...

** Winners (3): 1984, 1995, 2016 *

National First Division The National First Division (NFD), officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African club football after the South African Premier Division. Both the NFD and South Afric ...

** Winners: 2006

Notable former coaches

* Mike Kenning * Julie Kaplan *

Eddie Lewis Edward Lewis may refer to: Politicians * Edward Lewis (Devizes MP) (1650–1674), British MP for Devizes, 1669–1674 * Edward Lewis (Radnor MP), British MP for Radnor, 1761–1768, 1769–1774 and 1775–1790 *Edward Parke Custis Lewis (1837–18 ...

(1974–79) * Joe Frickleton (1986) *

Terry Paine Terence Lionel Paine (born 23 March 1939) is an English retired footballer. Originally from Winchester, Paine is best known for his career with Southampton, for whom he made over 800 appearances (a club record) in 18 seasons with the club. H ...

(1987–88) * John Lathan * Jim Bone (2000–01) * Roger De Sa (2001–05) * Boebie Solomons (1 July 2005 – 10 March 2007) * Roger De Sa (1 July 2007 – 9 July 2012) *

Antonio López Habas Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

(12 July 2012 – 4 Jan 2013) *

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...

(7 Jan 2013 – 28 May 2013) * Gavin Hunt (28 May 2013 – 5 September 2020)

Club records

*Most starts: Peter Gordon 415 *Most goals: Peter Gordon 55 *Most capped player: Charles Yohane 268 (1997–2006) *Most starts in a season: Andy Geddes 46 (1986) *Most goals in a season:

29 (1985) *Record victory: 14–0 v Cardiff City (16 September 1986, Mainstay Cup) *Record defeat: 1–6 vs

(14 October 1990, NSL) Source:

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
record

Club officials/Technical team

*Chairman: Alan Fainman *CEO: Jose Ferreira *COO: Jonathan Schloss *General manager: George Mogotsi *Team manager: Roy Limongelli *Coach: Gavin Hunt *Assistant coach: Paul Johnstone *Assistant & goalkeeper coach: Tyrone Damons Source:Kickoff PSL Yearbook 2013/2014, p. 18.

Shirt sponsor & kit manufacturer

*Shirt sponsor:

Bidvest The Bidvest Group Limited also known as Bidvest Group or Bidvest is a South African services, trading, and distribution company. History Bidvest was founded in 1988 by Brian Joffe and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1990. The B ...

*Kit manufacturer:

Kappa Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or cursive ; el, κάππα, ''káppa'') is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.bidvestwits.co.za Association football clubs established in 1921 National First Division clubs National Football League (South Africa) clubs Premier Soccer League clubs Soccer clubs in Johannesburg University of the Witwatersrand 1921 establishments in South Africa Bidvest companies