Posted in Features, News on Aug 06, 2025.
Kaizer Chiefs will fly off to the Western Cape for their first league outing of the 2025/26 season to face Stellenbosch FC at Athlone stadium on Sunday, 10 August, at 17h30, as Amakhosi begin their 56th season in the top- flight of South African football. Chiefs, 13 times South Africa league champions, first competed in the top- flight in 1971 and will feature in their 30th PSL era league campaign since its inception in 1996/97.
The Glamour Boys will be beginning a league campaign in the Western Cape for the first time since that inaugural PSL season. The only other time Chiefs have played a team from the Western Cape in their opening game was against Santos in 2009/10, which ended goalless.
Over their previous 29 opening league games since 1996/97, Chiefs have won 16 times first up, lost five games and drawn eight.
Chiefs will be opening up a PSL campaign on the road for the 20th time. Their record in the previous 19 openers has seen Chiefs win 11 times, draw six and lost two games. Chiefs’ biggest win in their opening game of league season in the PSL era came, in fact, on the road - a 6-0 triumph over AmaZulu in 2012/13, a season in which they went onto lift the title.
In three of Chiefs’ four title-winning seasons in the PSL era they have begun on the road. In 2004/05, they defeated Dynamos 4-1 and in 2012-13, they won 6-0 against AmaZulu. In 2014/15, they defeated Free State Stars, 1-0.
This particular fixture pits Chiefs against Stellenbosch for the 13th time in the league. Amakhosi hold sway, winning six of these games, drawing three and losing three. Last season, Chiefs managed to defeat Stellenbosch three times in all competitions, winning the away league fixture 1-0, followed by a 2-1 home victory, and then a 3-1 triumph in a Nedbank Cup quarterfinal clash.
Chiefs have also fared well on their travels to face Stellenbosch, winning on four previous visits, while losing once and drawing once.
This fixture also saw history being made when former Chiefs player, Caleb Bimenyimana scored a hat trick of penalties in a 3-1 away win for Chiefs on 9 October, 2022 during. It was the first in the PSL era that any player had managed to score three penalties in a single game.
Amakhosi will be looking for their third successive league win over Stellenbosch, and their fourth in a row away from home against them.
