The South African Football Association was incorporated on 23 March 1991, following a long unity process intended to rid football in South Africa of all its past racial division.

Four disparate units came together to form the organisation in Johannesburg to set South African football on the road to a return to international competition after a lifetime of apartheid in soccer.

These four entities were the Football Association of South Africa (FASA), the South African Soccer Association (SASA), the South African Soccer Federation (SASF) and the South African National Football Association (SANFA), who later withdrew from the process only to return again two years later.