Soweto derby Soweto derby The Soweto derby is a soccer rivalry between Premier Soccer League's Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates in South Africa and is considered one of the most fiercely contested matches in African football. It was first contested on 24 January 1970. Matches between the two rivals attract a large fanbase. Based in Soweto, Johannesburg, the rivalry stems from the fact that Kaizer Chiefs was formed by a former Orlando Pirates star Kaizer Motaung. Motaung had left Orlando Pirates to go play professional soccer in the now defunct North American Soccer League for a team called the Atlanta Chiefs. Upon
1999–2000 Premier Soccer League record they jointly set with Kaizer Chiefs last season, but unlike the previous season in which the title was decided by goal difference, there was no close title race this season as Sundowns finished comfortably ahead of second placed Orlando Pirates with an 11-point margin. As before, the league was contested by 18 teams, sixteen returning from the 1997–98 season and two newly promoted clubs; the returning African Wanderers and Tembisa Classic. The league continued to run parallel to the European football calendar (August–May) and not run concurrently with the African football calendar (January–December). Mamelodi Sundowns clinched a record third