South Africa's 2011–12 Premier Soccer League season (known as the ABSA Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth since its establishment.

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...

were the defending champions, having won their third PSL title, and in the process ended

SuperSport United SuperSport United Football Club (often known as SuperSport) is a South African professional football club based in Atteridgeville in Pretoria in the Gauteng province. The team currently plays in the Dstv Premiership. United is known as ''Matsats ...

's 3 year grip on the championship. The season kicked off on 12 August 2011 and ended on 19 May 2012. 16 teams contested the season, including two newly promoted teams – yo-yo club

Jomo Cosmos Jomo Cosmos are a South African association football club based in Johannesburg that plays in the National First Division. The club is owned and coached by South African football legend Jomo Sono. In the 2021-2022 National First Division sea ...

– who were promoted for the second time in 3 seasons after winning the 2010–11 National First Division champions' playoff 5–4 on penalties against

Bay United Bay United was a South African professional association football, football (soccer) club based first in the city of Port Elizabeth and later Polokwane. It played in the South African Premier Division and National First Division. The club came in ...

, and

Black Leopards Black Leopards FC is a South African football club based in Thohoyandou, Vhembe Region, Limpopo that plays in the National First Division. History The club was founded in 1983 by business people in the Vhembe Region. In 1998 the club was tak ...

who came through a four-way promotion playoff, defeating

2–0 over a two-legged final.

secured the title with a 4–2 win against

Golden Arrows Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. are a South African soccer club based in Durban that plays in the Premier Soccer League. History It was founded in 1943 in the streets of Lamontville, a township in Durban. The club played in the defunct Nation ...

on 19 May 2012. This was their fourth PSL title overall and the second in succession. At the bottom,

was automatically relegated to the First Division while Santos was relegated via the PSL Playoff Tournament.

TV rights

The PSL announced that current digital broadcaster SuperSport had won the rights to continue broadcasting the PSL after their current contract expired at the end of the 2011–12 season. The new broadcasting deal will commence at the start of the 2012–13 season and is said to be worth R2 billion over five years. As with their outgoing contract, SuperSport will continue to lease a select number of matches to free-to-air public broadcaster

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

Teams

The team finishing 16th and last during the 2010–11 PSL season –

Mpumalanga Black Aces Black Aces were a South African football club that played in the Premier Soccer League. Aces usually played their home games in the Mpumalanga province but were based and trained in Johannesburg. History The original club was founded in 1937 by ...

– was automatically relegated from the PSL while the team finishing 15th –

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

– was entered into a four-way relegation/promotion playoff with 3 teams from the 2010–11 National First Division season, where they were comfortably beaten 4–2 on aggregate by Black Leopards in the semi-finals and thus relegated from the PSL. As it was, both Black Aces and Vasco had been promoted in the previous season, so they each spent a single season in the top flight before going straight back down. Jomo Cosmos and Black Leopards had finished first and second in the Inland Stream of the 2010–11 National First Division season. Cosmos, as champions of the Inland Stream, faced off against the champions of the Coastal Stream – Bay United – and beat them 5–4 on penalties after two goalless draws, thus securing promotion to the PSL. In the next phase of the relegation/promotion playoffs Black Leopards had taken on and defeated Vasco da Gama of the PSL over two legs and proceeded to reach the final of the playoffs, where they met Bay United. Leopards continued Bay United's heartbreaking end to their season by defeating them over two legs to earn a return to the PSL after two seasons out of the top flight.

Stadiums and locations

Football teams in South Africa tend to use multiple stadiums over the course of a season for their home games. The following table will only indicate the stadium used most often by the club for their home games

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

League table

*Winner of the 2012

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's Premier Soccer League, premier club association football, soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of givi ...

will qualify for the

2013 CAF Confederation Cup The 2013 CAF Confederation Cup (also known as the 2013 Orange CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 10th edition of the CAF Confederation Cup, Africa's secondary club football competition organized by the Confederation of African ...

Results

Statistics

Top goalscorers
''As of May 19, 2012'' Last updated: 19 May 2012
Source
Premier Soccer League
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Awards

The 2011–12 PSL Awards ceremony was held on 27 May 2012.

PSL Footballer of the Year

The ''PSL Footballer of the Year'' was awarded to

Siyabonga Nomvethe Siyabonga Eugene Nomvethe (; born 2 December 1977) is a South African former professional soccer player who played as a forward. Nomvethe played in several European leagues. Nomvethe represented the South Africa national team from his debut on ...

. Palesa Shabalala The ''PSL Player of the Season'' was also awarded to Siyabonga Nomvethe.

PSL Players' Player of the Season

The ''PSL Players' Player of the Season'' was also awarded to Siyabonga Nomvethe.

PSL Red Hot Young Player of the Season

The ''PSL Red Hot Young Player of the Season'' was awarded to

Ronwen Williams Ronwen Hayden Williams (born 21 January 1992) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for both Premier Soccer League club Mamelodi Sundowns and South Africa national team. Club career Early career Willi ...

PSL Coach of the Season

The ''PSL Coach of the Season'' was awarded to

Gordon Igesund Gordon Igesund (born 22 July 1956) is a former South African football player and coach who was most recently the manager of Highlands Park in the Premier Soccer League. Early life Igesund was born in Durban to George Norman Igesund (born 193 ...

PSL Top Goalscorer

The ''PSL Top Goalscorer'' award went to Siyabonga Nomvethe.

PSL Goalkeeper of the Season

The ''PSL Goalkeeper of the Season'' award went to Wayne Sandilands.

PSL Absa-lutely Awesome Goal of the Season

The ''PSL Absa-lutely Awesome Goal of the Season'' award went to

Benni McCarthy Benedict Saul "Benni" McCarthy (born 12 November 1977) is a South African coach and former footballer who is a first-team coach at Manchester United. He previously worked as head coach of South African Premier Division team AmaZulu. A former fo ...

References

External links

Premier Soccer League (PSL) Official WebsiteABSA PremiershipPSL ResultsPSL Standings
{{DEFAULTSORT:2011-12 Premier Soccer League

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

1 Premier Soccer League seasons