50 Stats From The PSL Season

The team at OptaJabu take a look back at the 2022-23 PSL season with the 50 best facts of the season. The review considers key stats from all competitions, so will also feature some interesting nuggets related to PSL players also in the CAF Champions League. We went month-by-month to maintain some order, although not all stats are in chronological order.

August

0:59 – Royal AM’s opening goal of the season came after 59 seconds. It was only the 2nd time in PSL history a team opened their season with a 1st minute goal (also Manning Rangers in August 2000 v Hellenic).

10 – 10 goals were scored by all sides on MatchDay 1 weekend, the lowest combined total for all teams in their season opening games in PSL history.

24 – Marcelo Allende scored v Stellenbosch to become the first Chilean to score a league goal for Sundowns, meaning 24 different nationalities have scored for them in the PSL.

100 – In their 100th match in charge at Sundowns, Manqoba Mngqithi & Rulani Mokwena earned their 63rd win v SuperSport (MTN8 semi) – the best win rate of any Sundowns coach in their first 100 games across all competitions.

1 –  Orlando Pirates spent the night at the top of the league table for the first time since May 2019.

5 – On the same day, TS Galaxy became the 4th side in PSL history to keep a clean sheet in each of their five season-opening games (after 2003 Wits, 2009 Pirates & 2021 Sundowns)

5 – Melusi Buthelezi became only the 3rd goalkeeper in PSL top-flight history to keep a clean sheet in each of his team’s five season opening games (after Moeneeb Josephs for Pirates in 2009 & Wayne Roberts for Wits in 2003).

4 – All three of Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates reached the semi-finals of the Top8 for just the fourth time in PSL history.

September

1500 – Sundowns earned their 1500th point in the PSL, the first top-flight side to reach that total, and one of only five teams with more than 1000.

4 – Golden Arrows beat Swallows FC 4-0, only the third time they have won a league match by a margin of 4+ goals in their PSL top-flight history:

• 4-0 v Ajax (Nov 08)
• 6-0 v Platinum Stars (March 09)
• 4-0 v Swallows FC (Sep 2022)

14 – Richards Bay won 14 points from their opening eight league games. Only 2012 Tuks (15) & 2020 Swallows (18) have won more points as a newly-promoted side at that stage.

October

1 – Against Stellenbosch, Caleb Bimenyimana became the first player in PSL top-flight history to score a hat-trick of penalties in a single game.

21y 4m 14d – Aged 21 years, 4 months & 14 days, Cassius Mailula became the second youngest PSL player to score a brace for Sundowns in the league (after Raphael Chukwu, who was 20 days younger in November 1996 away to AmaZulu 21y 3m 25d).

1 – Arthur Zwane became the first Chiefs coach to win his first Soweto Derby since Ernst Middendorp in 2005/06. Zwane played for Chiefs in that game, also on the 29th of October.

0 – By the end of October, Pirates had not scored a 2nd-half goal in any of their 13 league matches, a new record of such games from the start of a PSL season (was previously 11).

January

50 – Sundowns became the fastest team ever to reach 50 points in a PSL season, doing so in just 20 games and breaking the record previously held by Kaizer Chiefs (21 games)

7 – Sundowns won all seven of their matches in all competitions in January 2023, the most wins by a team in a single month in PSL history.

15 – Sundowns’ victory over Sekhukhune at the end of January meant they had beaten all the opposing teams in the league at least once in the season, equalling a PSL 100% record set by Kaizer Chiefs in 2013/14 & 2014/15.

12 – Sundowns became the first team in PSL history to win as many as 12 games at the half-way stage of a 16 team PSL season.

4 – TS Galaxy beat Golden Arrows 4-0 on 29 January, their biggest ever winning margin since they joined the top-flight.

1 – For the first time since their 2019 promotion, Stellenbosch came back to win a league game from a half-time losing position – v Cape Town City (W0 D10 L23 prior)

14 – Bernard Parker scored a goal against Arrows, meaning he’s scored at least once in 14 different calendar years. Only Bradley Grobler (16), Siyabonga Nomvete & Nathan Paulse (both 15) have scored in more different years.

February

2 – Arthur Zwane became just the second coach to beat Orlando Pirates home and away in his first PSL season at the club, after 2005/6 Middendorp (when Zwane played both games).

5 – Kaizer Chiefs won their fifth consecutive Soweto derby v Orlando Pirates, the first time either of the teams have won five straight league derbies in PSL history.

100 – Bradley Grobler scored his 100th goal making him only the sixth player to score 100 goals in the PSL era, after Siya Nomvete, Daniel Mudau, Mabhuti Khanyeza, Tico-Tico Bucuane and Collins Mbesuma.

March

11 – Sundowns won their 11th straight home game in the league, a new PSL record, eclipsing the 10 game run held by Paul Dolezar’s Sundowns in 1999.

5 – Richards Bay became the first side to lose five consecutive league games in the season. They were the first to six and then seven losses, before ending the losing run with a draw.

11 – Until the draw v Stellenbosch on 5 March, Rhulani Mokwena won 11 league games in a row, equalling the longest winning streak by a coach in PSL history (Igesund also 11 in 2007)

6 – Iqraam Rayners became the first ever player to score in six consecutive matches for Stellenbosch. He later became the first Stellies player to win the Player of the Month award.

April

7 – Sundowns won the title with seven games still left to play, the earliest title victory in terms of remaining matches in PSL history

5 – Kaizer Chiefs won five straight games in all competitions for the first time since Feb 2017. Arthur Zwane was the 1st Chiefs coach with a run this long since Steve Komphela

802 – The win over Richards Bay brought Sundowns their 800th point at home in the PSL, the first club to reach this landmark.

2 – Sekhukhune United beat Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 at home, completing their first ever league double against any top-flight opponent.

21 – Sundowns (MD7 – MD27) equalled their club record for the longest unbeaten league run within a single PSL season (21 also in 2020/21, MD1 – MD21). The streak would stop at 14 when the season ended.

50 – Iqraam Rayners became the first player to score 50 goals for Stellenbosch Football Club, across all competitions they have been involved in.

100 – Peter Shalulile’s second goal v CR Belouizdad took him to 100 top-flight goals for PSL clubs (27 at Highlands Park plus 73 at Sundowns, all comps), becoming the 7th player to reach 100 goals in PSL history.

1 – In Grobler & Shalulile, this was the first time in PSL history that two players reached 100 goals in the same campaign.

May

18 – Ronwen Williams kept his 18th clean sheet for Sundowns in the league, a new record for a goalkeeper in a single PSL campaign.

6 – For a second successive season, Kaizer Chiefs suffered double defeats to three teams, something that has previously only happened once before the start of last season.

+39 –  Sundowns set a new record for goal difference in a 30-game PSL season (+39), beating the +36 record set last season. In the last three seasons, their total goal difference stands at +110 .

17 – At home to Wydad, Themba Zwane scored his 17th goal altogether in CAF competition, the most of any PSL player in history.

16 – Sundowns’ winning margin at the end of the 2022/23 league season was 16 points, the joint-biggest gap between first and second in PSL top-flight history (16 also last season)

100% – Daniel Cardoso and Given Msimango were the only players to play every minute of every league game this season. The last player to do so was Cardoso in 2020/21 for Chiefs.

12 – Kaizer Chiefs lost their 12th league match of the season, the most league defeats they’ve ever suffered in a single campaign in PSL history.

11 – Eric Tinkler won a match against Kaizer Chiefs for the 11th time in his coaching career, more than he has against any other PSL opponent.

500 – Lindokuhle Mbatha’s equaliser v Stellenbosch was the 500th goal scored in the league this season. It’s the first time since 2020/21 that the 500-goal mark was breached, when we also waited until the final day to see the 500th goal.

17 – Relebogile Ratomo scored his first goal for Pirates on the final day of the season for Pirates, making him the 17th different scorer for them in the league. No team had more different scorers (Sundowns also 17).

17 – Pirates had 17 players score for them this season, the most different goal scorers ever for Pirates in a single PSL season (17 also in 2003/4).

98 – Peter Shalulile’s second goal for Sundowns in their final game of the season was their 98th of the season across all competitions, equalling a record for goals scored by a PSL club (also 1998/99 Kaizer Chiefs, 1999/00 Sundowns and 2021/22 Sundowns).

2 – José Riveiro became the 2nd Orlando Pirates coach to win two domestic knockout Cups in his first PSL season at the club, after Julio Leal (2011/12 MTN8 & Telkom Knockout).