The first edition of the 2025/26 league Soweto Derby will again be played outside its usual dates for the second season in a row.
As has become tradition through the years, the first match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates is played before Christmas, with the second scheduled into the New Year.
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This has largely been the case throughout the PSL era years with the first Chiefs v Pirates league match played before the December break in 26 of the last 29 seasons.
Only thrice did both games get to be played into the New Year and this was in the 1996/97 season, 2020/21 season, and last term.
The first it happened, the first derby was in January 1997 when Jerry Sikhosana’s solitary goal won the game for Bucs, before the two teams played a draw four months later.
The Coronavirus effects forced the change of dates for the 2020/21 campaign with the two games played before empty seats in January and March 2021.
Last season, the change in sponsorship from DStv to Betway forced a delayed start to the league season, which only got underway mid-September instead of early August.
The two league derbies were played on February 1 and May 3.
This season, it will be the same again with the first on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at FNB Stadium, which will be almost 10 months since the last one.
The second league derby will be on April 25, 2026, also at FNB Stadium.
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It will also be the 15th consecutive season in which the Soweto Derby is played without the same coaches on both ends for two years in a row.
Pirates and Chiefs have not had the same men overseeing the biggest fixture for two consecutive campaigns since the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons when the two clubs had Rudi Krol and Vladimir Vermezovic respectively.
Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
