1997–98 South African Premiership

Premiership
Season	1997–98
Champions	Mamelodi Sundowns; 1st Premiership title; 4th South African title
Relegated	Real Rovers; African Wanderers
CAF Champions League	Mamelodi Sundowns
African Cup Winners' Cup	Orlando Pirates
Matches played	306
Goals scored	736 (2.41 per match)
Top goalscorer	George Koumantarakis ; Manning Rangers; (14 goals)
Biggest home win	Hellenic 5–0 Santos; (9 August 1997); Mamelodi Sundowns 5–0 Santos; (9 November 1997)
Biggest away win	AmaZulu 0–6 African Wanderers; (22 February 1998)
Highest scoring	SuperSport United 4-4 Manning Rangers (8 goals) ; (28 November 1997)
	← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The 1997–98 Premiership, known as the 1997–98 Castle Premiership for sponsorship purposes, was the second season of the Premiership, the top tier football league in South Africa, since its establishment in 1996. The season began on 1 August 1997 and ended on 13 May 1998. Mamelodi Sundowns won their first Premiership title and their fourth South African title after previously winning the Premiership's predecessor - the National Soccer League - on three occasions (1988, 1990 and 1993). This victory would be the first in a hat-trick of Premiership titles for Sundowns, as the team from Pretoria would go on to dominate the league for the next two seasons. Sundowns also won a league and cup double after winning the 1998 Bob Save Superbowl later that year.^[2]

As in the inaugural season, the league was contested by 18 teams, sixteen returning from the 1996-97 season and two newly promoted clubs; African Wanderers and Santos. The league would also continue to run parallel to the European football calendar (August–May) and not run concurrently with the African football calendar (January–December).

Club name changes

Eastern Cape club Umtata Bush Bucks decided to drop Umtata from their name from the 1997-98 season, and were instead simply referred to as Bush Bucks.

Season summary

Manning Rangers found themselves unable to retain their title as they slipped to fifth place in the final standings, some 11 points behind eventual champions Mamelodi Sundowns, who won the first of what would be three successive Premiership titles.

Kaizer Chiefs finished in the runners-up spot for the second successive season after finishing five points behind the brilliant Brazilians. The Pretoria giants based their success on a rock-solid defence – just 25 goals conceded in 34 matches – and they were immensely difficult to beat, suffering just four defeats the whole season. The Brazilians racked up 68 points, five more than Chiefs could manage.

While it was déjà vu for the Amakhosi in finishing second, the same could be said for Orlando Pirates in third. The Buccaneers picked up 57 points in the season, the same as Cape Town Spurs and reigning champions Manning Rangers, but their superior goal difference at least saw them end in the top three.

Bush Bucks, Jomo Cosmos and Wits University rounded off the top eight teams.

Moroka Swallows and Bloemfontein Celtic again finished in mid-table, while a fierce relegation battle almost saw the likes of SuperSport United, AmaZulu and Santos suffer the drop.

In a tense relegation battle that raged into the final day of the season, it was newly promoted African Wanderers and Real Rovers - who had managed to avoid the drop by a single point last season - that suffered the ignominy of relegation from the Premiership. They each finished on 31 points, just two adrift of Santos and AmaZulu in 16th and 15th place respectively. Heading into the penultimate round of matches Santos had found themselves rooted to the bottom of the table on 27 points, 3 points adrift of Real Rovers and safety. Santos managed to string together two straight wins to end the season with a 1-0 away win against Wits University and crucially, a 2-1 home victory over fellow relegation strugglers African Wanderers on the final day. Before losing to Santos on the final day, African Wanderers had managed to hold Soweto giants Orlando Pirates to a goalless draw, leaving them confident of securing the result required against Santos to ensure their status as a Premiership club. In the meantime, Real Rovers, who had found themselves safe with two games to go, suffered two straight defeats, which coupled with Santos' two victories confirmed their relegation. Relegation would prove to have a disastrous effect on Real Rovers as they would not return and ultimately the club would cease operations at the conclusion of the 2000-01 season.

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Mamelodi Sundowns (C)	34	19	11	4	48	25	+23	68	1999 CAF Champions League First Round^[a]
2	Kaizer Chiefs	34	17	12	5	52	35	+17	63
3	Orlando Pirates	34	15	12	7	52	33	+19	57	1999 African Cup Winners' Cup first round^[a]
4	Cape Town Spurs	34	15	12	7	51	35	+16	57
5	Manning Rangers	34	16	9	9	58	47	+11	57
6	Bush Bucks	34	14	12	8	42	38	+4	54
7	Jomo Cosmos	34	13	12	9	31	31	0	51
8	Wits University	34	13	9	12	39	34	+5	48
9	Qwa Qwa Stars	34	12	10	12	33	34	−1	46
10	Hellenic	34	12	8	14	45	42	+3	44
11	Moroka Swallows	34	12	6	16	30	42	−12	42
12	Bloemfontein Celtic	34	12	5	17	38	46	−8	41
13	Vaal Professionals	34	8	14	12	36	44	−8	38
14	SuperSport United	34	7	15	12	34	37	−3	36
15	AmaZulu	34	8	9	17	36	46	−10	33
16	Santos	34	10	3	21	34	61	−27	33
17	African Wanderers (R)	34	7	10	17	43	56	−13	31	Relegated to the National First Division
18	Real Rovers (R)	34	8	7	19	34	50	−16	31	Relegated to the National First Division

Source: rsssf.com
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ ^a ^b Due to the Premiership following a different football calendar to the rest of Africa, which runs over a single calendar year and not the international August–May calendar followed by the Premiership, Mamelodi Sundowns & Orlando Pirates were only eligible to enter the 1999 editions of the respective CAF competitions they qualified for.

References

^ "South Africa » Premier Soccer League » Top Scorer". worldfootball.net.
^ "Doing the double - Sundowns chasing unique distinction". SuperSport. Retrieved 17 September 2024.

External links

[table_note_res_CL10.70795192835291-3] Due to the Premiership following a different football calendar to the rest of Africa, which runs over a single calendar year and not the international August–May calendar followed by the Premiership, Mamelodi Sundowns & Orlando Pirates were only eligible to enter the 1999 editions of the respective CAF competitions they qualified for.

[1] "South Africa » Premier Soccer League » Top Scorer". worldfootball.net.

[2] "Doing the double - Sundowns chasing unique distinction". SuperSport. Retrieved 17 September 2024.

[1]

[2]

[a]

v t e 1998 in African football (CAF)
« 1997 1999 »
Domestic leagues	Algeria 97–98 98–99 Angola 98 Cameroon 1998 Cape Verde 98 Egypt 97–98 98–99 Libya 97–98 98–99 Senegal 1998 South Africa 97–98 98–99 Tunisia 97–98 98–99 Uganda 98
Domestic cups	Algeria 97–98 98–99 Angola 98 Uganda 98
CAF competitions	CAF Champions League final African Cup Winners' Cup CAF Cup Super Cup

v t e South African Premiership seasons
2024–25 teams	AmaZulu Cape Town City Chippa United Golden Arrows Kaizer Chiefs Magesis Marumo Gallants Mamelodi Sundowns Polokwane City Pirates Richards Bay F.C. Royal AM Sekhukhune United Stellenbosch SuperSport United TS Galaxy
Former teams (defunct teams)	African Wanderers Ajax Cape Town F.C. Baroka Bay United Benoni Premier United Black Leopards Bloemfontein Celtic Bush Bucks Cape Town Spurs Dynamos Free State Stars Hellenic Highlands Park Jomo Cosmos Manning Rangers Maritzburg United Michau Warriors Moroka Swallows Mother City Mpumalanga Black Aces Platinum Stars Polokwane City Real Rovers Ria Stars Santos Seven Stars Thanda Royal Zulu Tembisa Classic Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila University of Pretoria Vaal Professionals Vasco da Gama Wits University F.C.
Associated competitions	Nedbank Cup Telkom Knockout MTN 8 National First Division
Seasons	1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

v t e Seasons in South African soccer
Premiership teams (2024–25)	AmaZulu Cape Town City Chippa United Golden Arrows Kaizer Chiefs Magesi Marumo Gallants Mamelodi Sundowns Pirates Polokwane City Richards Bay Royal AM Sekhukhune United Stellenbosch SuperSport United TS Galaxy
First Division teams (2024–25)	Baroka Black Leopards Cape Town Spurs Casric Stars Durban City Highbury Hungry Lions JDR Stars Kruger United Leruma United Milford Orbit College Pretoria Callies University of Pretoria Upington City Venda
Premiership	1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
National First Division	1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
SAFA Second Division	1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Nedbank Cup	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
MTN 8	1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Telkom Knockout/Carling Knockout Cup	1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2023 2024
Carling Black Label Cup	2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2019 2021 2022
National Football League	1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
Federation Professional League	1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
NPSL (1971-1977)	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
NPSL (1978-1984)	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
NPSL (1985-1995)	1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1984 1992 1983 1994 1995
National Soccer League (NSL)	1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
SASF Cup	1961 1962 1963 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
Telkom Charity Cup	1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Vodacom Challenge	1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011