Mamelodi Sundowns crowned PSL champions in South Africa

Kaizer Chiefs were at the summit of the log from August 2019 to September 2020 but it was Mamelodi Sundowns who eventually walked away with the biggest prize in South Africa, securing the league title on the final day of the season.

As a result, Sundowns have made history as they are the only South African team to win the PSL title in three successive seasons on two occasions.

Between 1998 and 2000, Sundowns dominated local football. SuperSport United won consecutive titles between 2008 and 2010 with Gavin Hunt at the helm of the Tshwane outfit.

Now this season, after chasing Kaizer Chiefs for 13 good months, the Brazilians pulled the unthinkable, dethroning the Soweto giants to successfully defend their league title.

Sundowns went into their game against Black Leopards fully aware that the title race wasn’t in their hands but were somehow hoping Baroka would do them a favour by at least denying Chiefs a win at Bidvest Stadium.

That’s how it panned out as Amakhosi stumbled against Baroka, playing to a 1-1 draw after letting their first-half lead slip in the 60th minute.

Sundowns, on the other hand, scored three past Leopards – and that was enough for them to clinch the league title.

At some point, Pitso Mosimane admitted the title might have gone after seeing his team drop crucial points along the way.

What makes this achievement sweeter for Sundowns and Mosimane is Chiefs were at some stage 13 points ahead of them.

But this was when they were still busy with their Caf Champions League

The gap began to narrow as Sundowns crashed out of the Champions League and before the coronavirus pandemic hit South Africa in March, Mosimane’s men were just four points behind Chiefs with a game in hand.

After matching Amakhosi’s tally in August and sitting just behind them due to their inferior goal difference, Sundowns started having the belief that it’s possible to unseat Chiefs – they successfully did it in style as they retained their league trophy.

Apart from matching their own record and surpassing neighbours SuperSport United, Sundowns also stretched their number of league titles to 10 since the inception of the PSL in 1996; a record which will take years to match.

This is because the likes of Orlando Pirates and Chiefs have won it just four times while SuperSport lifted the coveted trophy on three occasions.

Sundowns have certainly set the bar high for their rivals, and the pressure is now on all the other 15 teams to raise their games to reach their standards.

The only consolation for Chiefs is they have qualified for next season’s Champions League.

At the bottom of the log, Polokwane City got relegated to the NFD but the writing was always on the wall even ahead of their match against Bidvest Wits.

They needed to win by no less than nine goals to stand a chance of surviving and it was almost impossible to achieve that given their performances this season.

Interestingly, when the season started in August 2019, Polokwane City emerged as strong title contenders and kept Chiefs on their toes. They are the only team that temporarily sat at the summit of the log before Chiefs owned the throne for over a year.