Champions Mamelodi Sundowns will miss the opening round of the new Premier Soccer League season but a match up between Bidvest Wits and Kaizer Chiefs will provide the appropriate spark to light up the new campaign.
Sundowns will be completing their group campaign in the African Champions League at the same time as the new domestic season gets underway on Tuesday August 23 and Wednesday August 24.
It means the champions will not begin the defence of their league crown before the middle of September when they travel away to meet Maritzburg United at the Harry Gwala Stadium.
The new league season will see its first three rounds played midweek before a full round of weekend fixtures on September 23-25.
Wits host Chiefs at the Bidvest Stadium in one of four matches on the opening night with new boys Baroka playing home to Ajax Cape Town‚ who were bad travellers last season‚ and Chippa United taking on Free State Stars in Port Elizabeth.
New franchise Cape Town City make their debut also on August 23 at home to Polokwane City at the Cape Town Stadium.
The next night‚ on August 24‚ Bloemfontein Celtic host Maritzburg United; SuperSport United are away at Platinum Stars and Orlando Pirates begin at home to Lamontville Golden Arrows.
Promoted Highlands Park have to wait until September 13 before they get their first action‚ which will be at home in Tembisa to Baroka‚ because their opening fixture against Sundowns has been postponed.
The Brazilians will be away at Nigeria side Enyimba in the Champions League.
The MTN8 will take up four weekends‚ with the PSL ignoring calls to move the competition to midweek to alleviate fixture congestion. The final is being played on October 1.
The Telkom Knockout will be decided on December 10 and the league will break from December 21 to February 7 because of the 2017 African Nations Cup finals in Gabon.
The second half of the season will be longer than usual with the last round of league matches on May 27 and the Nedbank Cup final set down for June 3.
Interestingly‚ Pirates conclude their league campaign away against Arrows in Durban on May 27.
This is the fourth time in the last five seasons‚ that Arrows have been in the top flight‚ that the two clubs meet in the last game of the campaign.
On two of those previous occasions‚ Pirates won the league title.
Contrary to last year‚ there was no draw for the league fixtures‚ compiled instead by PSL staff.
The fixture list released by the PSL on Monday shows that Sundowns seek to play most of their games this season at Loftus Versfeld rather than in Atteridgeville and that Free State Stars are dividing their time between Goble Park in Bethlehem and the James Motlatsi Stadium in Orkney.
All Chippa’s game are set for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium‚ suggesting an end to the arrangement to take some of the games to East London where there were large crowds.
The Cape Town clubs will both play all their matches at the World Cup stadium rather than cut costs by shifting smaller games to Athlone Stadium as Ajax have done in the past.
Baroka are moving to the Peter Mokaba Stadium which they will share with Polokwane City.
Mouth-watering fixture between Chiefs and Wits to kick off new PSL season
Champions Mamelodi Sundowns will miss the opening round of the new Premier Soccer League season but a match up between Bidvest Wits and Kaizer Chiefs will provide the appropriate spark to light up the new campaign.
Sundowns will be completing their group campaign in the African Champions League at the same time as the new domestic season gets underway on Tuesday August 23 and Wednesday August 24.
It means the champions will not begin the defence of their league crown before the middle of September when they travel away to meet Maritzburg United at the Harry Gwala Stadium.
The new league season will see its first three rounds played midweek before a full round of weekend fixtures on September 23-25.
Wits host Chiefs at the Bidvest Stadium in one of four matches on the opening night with new boys Baroka playing home to Ajax Cape Town‚ who were bad travellers last season‚ and Chippa United taking on Free State Stars in Port Elizabeth.
New franchise Cape Town City make their debut also on August 23 at home to Polokwane City at the Cape Town Stadium.
The next night‚ on August 24‚ Bloemfontein Celtic host Maritzburg United; SuperSport United are away at Platinum Stars and Orlando Pirates begin at home to Lamontville Golden Arrows.
Promoted Highlands Park have to wait until September 13 before they get their first action‚ which will be at home in Tembisa to Baroka‚ because their opening fixture against Sundowns has been postponed.
The Brazilians will be away at Nigeria side Enyimba in the Champions League.
The MTN8 will take up four weekends‚ with the PSL ignoring calls to move the competition to midweek to alleviate fixture congestion. The final is being played on October 1.
The Telkom Knockout will be decided on December 10 and the league will break from December 21 to February 7 because of the 2017 African Nations Cup finals in Gabon.
The second half of the season will be longer than usual with the last round of league matches on May 27 and the Nedbank Cup final set down for June 3.
Interestingly‚ Pirates conclude their league campaign away against Arrows in Durban on May 27.
This is the fourth time in the last five seasons‚ that Arrows have been in the top flight‚ that the two clubs meet in the last game of the campaign.
On two of those previous occasions‚ Pirates won the league title.
Contrary to last year‚ there was no draw for the league fixtures‚ compiled instead by PSL staff.
The fixture list released by the PSL on Monday shows that Sundowns seek to play most of their games this season at Loftus Versfeld rather than in Atteridgeville and that Free State Stars are dividing their time between Goble Park in Bethlehem and the James Motlatsi Stadium in Orkney.
All Chippa’s game are set for the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium‚ suggesting an end to the arrangement to take some of the games to East London where there were large crowds.
The Cape Town clubs will both play all their matches at the World Cup stadium rather than cut costs by shifting smaller games to Athlone Stadium as Ajax have done in the past.
Baroka are moving to the Peter Mokaba Stadium which they will share with Polokwane City.
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