Mamelodi Sundowns wrapping up the DStv Premiership title leaves the Caf Champions league and Nedbank Cup to play for and — also domestically — records left to try to break.

And there is one record still very much within the Brazilians’ reach that, if coach Rulani Mokwena’s team can level or break it, can really send a statement of the six-time champions’ dominance in 2022-23.

Downs, on 59 points, can reach a maximum 80 if they win their remaining seven games, meaning they can still break or equal the 75-point record for the old 18-team Premier Soccer League (PSL). They can drop four points and beat it, or five points and level it.

Barring a sudden loss of form that would come as a shock, given their winning form for months now, they seem almost certain to steam right through the 16-team record set by Pitso Mosimane's Sundowns in 2015-16. Downs need 12 points to level that mark or 13 to pass it.

Sundowns in 1998-99 and 1999-2000 and Kaizer Chiefs in 1998-99 (ending as runners-up to Downs on goal difference) reached 75 points in the 18-team Premiership. The league was reduced to 16 teams after the end of the 2001-02 season.

Downs’ form could well take them past the 75-point record.

The Brazilians are unbeaten in 23 matches in all competitions, which includes a 16-game winning run. They have lost just three of their 38 games across tournaments in 2022-23.

In the Premiership — where they have won 19, drawn two and lost two of their 23 matches — they are unbeaten in 17 games, one of which was a draw away to Stellenbosch FC two games ago that ended a league record run of 15 victories.

Factors that could work against the Brazilians breaking the 18-team PSL record, are that they could become fatigued in the final stretch, having played more matches than anyone else, as usual, due to their Caf Champions League participation and extended runs in domestic cup competitions. Sundowns exited in the semifinals of the MTN8 and are in the quarters of the Nedbank Cup.

In the Champions League, having topped Group B, they also enter the gruelling business end in the knockout stage in the coming weeks, which should further distract from a Premiership campaign where the title is wrapped up.

But Downs’ squad depth is also built to power through such situations. A betting person might put a sizeable sum on them breaking the 18-team record.

Downs officially became Premiership champions for the sixth time in a row when SuperSport United were held to a draw by Chippa United on Saturday.

Sundowns get a test of how they will react to being champions in their last seven games when they meet fifth-placed, second spot-chasing Cape Town City at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday night (7.30pm).