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The Brazilians successfully defended their crown and became the first team to win the league title twice in three consecutive seasons.
The Kaizer Chiefs were at the top of the record from August 2019 to September 2020, but it was Mamelodi Sundowns who finally took 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 have won the PSL title in three consecutive seasons on two occasions.
Between 1998 and 2000, the Sundowns dominated local soccer. SuperSport United won back-to-back titles between 2008 and 2010 with Gavin Hunt leading the Tshwane team.
Now this season, after chasing the Kaizer Chiefs for 13 good months, the Brazilians brought out the unthinkable, dethroned the Soweto giants to successfully defend their league title.
The Sundowns entered their game against Black Leopards fully aware that the title race was not in their hands, but somehow they expected Baroka to do them a favor by at least denying the Chiefs a victory at Bidvest Stadium.
This was how it played out when Amakhosi stumbled against Baroka, playing to a 1-1 draw after losing his lead in the first half in the 60th minute.
Sundowns, on the other hand, have scored three Leopards in the past, and that was enough for them to take the league title.
At some point, Pitso Mosimane admitted that the title could have been gone after seeing his team lose crucial points along the way.
What makes this achievement sweeter for Sundowns and Mosimane is that the Chiefs were at some point 13 points ahead of them.
But this was when they were still busy with their Caf Champions League commitments, and that lead was reduced to 10 points in November 2019.
The gap began to narrow when the Sundowns exited the Champions League and before the coronavirus pandemic hit South Africa in March, Mosimane’s men were just four points behind the Chiefs with a game in hand.
After equaling Amakhosi’s tally in August and sitting right behind them due to their lower goal difference, Sundowns began to believe that it is possible to unseat the Chiefs; They did it successfully in style as they retained their league trophy.
In addition to equaling its own record and surpassing neighboring SuperSport United, Sundowns also increased its number of league titles to 10 since the PSL’s inception in 1996; a record that will take years to match.
This is because the Orlando Pirates and Chiefs have won it only four times, while SuperSport lifted the coveted trophy three times.
The Sundowns have certainly set the bar very high for their rivals, and the pressure is now on the other 15 teams to raise their games and meet their standards.
The only consolation for the Chiefs is that they have qualified for the Champions League next season.
At the bottom of the record, the city of Polokwane was relegated to the NFD, but the writing was always on the wall, even before their match against Bidvest Wits.
They needed to win by no less than nine goals to have a chance of survival and it was almost impossible to do so given their performances this season.
Interestingly, when the season began in August 2019, Polokwane City emerged as a strong title contender and kept the Chiefs on their toes. They are the only team to temporarily sit atop the log before the Chiefs owned the throne for more than a year.
