Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

South African Premier Division

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Country
  
South Africa

Founded
  
1996

Level on pyramid
  
1

Confederation
  
CAF

Number of teams
  
16

Relegation to
  
National First Division

The South African Premier Division (referred to as the Absa Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is the highest division of South African football league system. As the division is the top level of association football in South Africa, it is often referred to as the PSL – the name of the league's administrator.

Contents

The Premier Soccer League, South Africa's "administrator of professional football in the Republic of South Africa" refer to the competition as the "Premier Division" in their constitution.

History

The league was founded in 1996 after an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnants of the National Premier Soccer League.

The league was reduced from 18 to 16 teams after the end of the 2001–02 season to avoid fixture congestion, causing two teams, Ria Stars and Free State Stars, to be disbanded.

In 2004, a match-fixing scandal rocked South African football. An investigation codenamed "Operation Dribble" was launched by the South African police in June 2004. More than 40 arrests were made, ranging from club bosses to match commissioners, referees and their assistants.

Kaizer Chiefs successfully defended their league title in 2005 after they won the prestigious trophy in 2004 for the first time in a decade.

The 2005–06 season saw Mamelodi Sundowns capturing the title for the fourth time.

In 2007, the PSL signed a television deal with SuperSport worth R1.6-billion. It is the biggest sporting deal in the history of South Africa, and it took the Premier Division into the top 15 ranked leagues in the world in terms of commercial broadcast deals.

In the same year ABSA replaced Castle Lager as name sponsor.

In 2008, 2009 and 2010 Supersport United won a hat-trick of titles.

The league currently has teams in most of the country's largest cities, with Port Elizabeth being the obvious exception. The city has not had a team in the league since the 2008–09 Premier Soccer League, when the city's Bay United F.C. were relegated.

The league is rated as the 12th best in Africa in 2015. This is according to the CAF 5-Year Ranking system.

CEOs

  • Trevor Phillips 1996–1998
  • Joe Ndlela 1998–2000 (fired)
  • Robin Petersen 2000–2001 (resigned)
  • Trevor Phillips 2002–2007
  • Kjetil Siem 2007–2011
  • Zola Majavu 2011 (resigned)
  • Stanley Matthews 2012 (resigned)
  • Cambridge Mokanyane 2013 (acting)
  • Brand de Villers 2013–2015
  • Mato Madlala 2016– Present (acting)

    • Sponsorship

    Since its inception in 1996, the Premier Division has been sponsored. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:

  • 1996-07: Castle Lager (Castle Premiership)
  • 2007–: ABSA (ABSA Premiership)

    • Format

    There are sixteen clubs in the Premier League. During the course of a season (which lasts from August to May) each club plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents for a total of 30 games for each club. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a defeat.

    The champion and runners up of the Premier Division advances to the CAF Champions League, while the third-place finishers and the Nedbank Cup champions advance to the CAF Confederation Cup, which is the African equivalent of the UEFA Europa League.

    The bottom team in the ABSA Premiership is automatically relegated and replaced by the winner of the National First Division. The team finishing 15th on the log enters a mini-league playoff with the teams who finished 2nd and 3rd in the National First Division – the winner earning a place in Premier Soccer League for the following season.

    Media coverage

    The league's main broadcast partner is SuperSport. SuperSport have in turn sub leased the rights to certain matches to the SABC, so that matches can be shown on public television.

    SuperSport broadcast matches on Wednesday and Friday nights, as well as on Saturdays and Sundays. The SABC broadcast Wednesday afternoon matches, as well as Saturday and Sunday matches.

    Clubs

  • Ajax Cape Town
  • Baroka
  • Bidvest Wits
  • Bloemfontein Celtic
  • Cape Town City F.C.
  • Chippa United
  • Free State Stars
  • Golden Arrows
  • Highlands Park
  • Kaizer Chiefs
  • Mamelodi Sundowns
  • Maritzburg United
  • Orlando Pirates
  • Platinum Stars
  • Polokwane City
  • SuperSport United

    • League records

  • Ever presents (474 matches): Kaizer Chiefs, Mamelodi Sundowns, Orlando Pirates, SuperSport United
  • Most Premier Division titles: 7 – Mamelodi Sundowns (1997/98), (1998/99), (1999/00), (2005/06), (2006/07), (2013/14),(2015/16)
  • Biggest Premier Division win: 8–1 – SuperSport United vs Zulu Royals (2003/04)
  • Most wins: 237 – Mamelodi Sundowns
  • Most draws: 154 – Orlando Pirates
  • Most defeats: 184 – Ajax CT
  • Most goals scored in a season: 73 – Kaizer Chiefs (1998/99)
  • Most goals conceded in a season: 85 – Mother City (1999/00)
  • Most points in a season: 75 – Mamelodi Sundowns (1999/00)

    • All time top goalscorers

  • 110 goals: Siyabonga Nomvete
  • 110 goals: Daniel Mudau
  • 104 goals: Manuel Bucuane
  • 103 goals: Mabhuti Khenyeza
  • 101 goals: Siphiwe Tshabalala
  • 101 goals: Collins Mbesuma

    • NB: list includes all players who have scored at least 100 goals in the PSL era. Also includes cup competitions.

    Source:

    Current products

    Footballers who have previously played for Premier Division clubs, and currently play for clubs in other confederations.

    References

    South African Premier Division Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA