 Inaugural participants in the league included Eleven Angels from Francistown.The league was founded in 1966 as an attempt by the BFA to stimulate grassroots football development and evenly spread the sport across the country.Although First Division teams are directly promoted to the top tier of Botswana football and also participate in the FA Challenge Cup, the winner of which qualifies to compete in the CAF Confederation Cup, an African continental competition equivalent to the UEFA Europa League, critics have claimed the league is not taken seriously enough.