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| Season | 1998–99 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Mamelodi Sundowns 2nd Premiership title 5th South African title |
| Relegated | Vaal Professionals Dynamos |
| CAF Champions League | Mamelodi Sundowns |
| African Cup Winners' Cup | SuperSport United |
| CAF Cup | Kaizer Chiefs |
| Matches | 306 |
| Goals | 782 (2.56 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Pollen Ndlanya Kaizer Chiefs (21 goals)[1] |
| Biggest home win | Mamelodi Sundowns 7–1Santos Mamelodi Sundowns 7–1Vaal Professionals (3 February 1999) |
| Biggest away win | Mamelodi Sundowns 0–4SuperSport United Dynamos 0–4Qwa Qwa Stars Hellenic 0–4Cape Town Spurs Moroka Swallows 0–4SuperSport United |
| Highest scoring | Manning Rangers 5–4Vaal Professionals Cape Town Spurs 4–5Kaizer Chiefs (9 goals) |
The1998–99 Premiership, known as the1998–99Castle Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and also commonly referred to as thePSL after the governing body, was the third season of thePremiership since its establishment in 1996. The season began on 31 July 1998 and ended on 9 June 1999.Mamelodi Sundowns became the first team in Premiership history to defend their title as they won their second straight Premiership title and their fifth South African title after previously winning the Premiership's predecessor - theNational Soccer League - on three occasions (1988, 1990 and 1993). In a hotly contested title race between Sundowns andKaizer Chiefs it came down to goal difference to separate the two as both finished on a joint record 75 points. A margin of +5 in goal difference was all that separated the two teams as Sundowns won their second in what would be a hat-trick of Premiership titles.
As before, the league was contested by 18 teams, sixteen returning from the1997–98 season and two newly promoted clubs;Dynamos andSeven Stars. The league would also continue to run parallel to the European football calendar (August–May) and not run concurrently with the African football calendar (January–December).
Sundowns 15 : 2 Chiefs
In what would become the most thrilling title race in Premiership history,Mamelodi Sundowns andKaizer Chiefs - finishing as runners-up for the third successive season - were in a class of their own as they finished 15 points ahead of third place and in the process scored 10 more league goals than the next best team.
Both clubs ended the season with a record 75 points but theBrazilians lifted the trophy thanks to a superior goal difference (+44 versus Chiefs’ +39) after a gripping finale to the season that saw them at a level pegging for the last four rounds of league games.
A 5-1 win on the last day of the season overDynamos wasn’t enough for theAmakhosi, as Sundowns’ 2-0 win overCape Town Spurs put them top of the pile and handed them a second successive title.
Orlando Pirates again finished third, 15 points off the pace of the top two.Manning Rangers came in fourth, level on points with theBuccaneers for the second season in a row, while newly promotedSeven Stars had a fairlytale run into fifth place.Qwa Qwa Stars came in sixth withBloemfontein Celtic andSuperSport United rounding out the top-eight in seventh and eighth places respectively.
Soweto giantsMoroka Swallows continued to disappoint as they endured a terrible season, ending 15th on the log, whileSantos finished just above the relegation zone once again, albeit a lot more comfortably than they did a year ago.
The unfortunate duo to get the chop were newly promotedDynamos andVaal Professionals. Dynamos finished six points away from Santos and safety while Vaal Professionals endured a miserable season, amassing a dismal 21 points. Both relegated teams set unwanted records during the season as the impotent Dynamos bagged a record low 20 goals while the Vaal Professionals' porous defence shipped a record high 74 goals. Sadly, much likeReal Rovers - who had been relegated the year before - relegation would prove disastrous for Vaal Professionals as they would not return to the Premiership and would cease to exist entirely by the end of the decade.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mamelodi Sundowns(C) | 34 | 23 | 6 | 5 | 70 | 26 | +44 | 75 | 2000 CAF Champions League first round[a] |
| 2 | Kaizer Chiefs | 34 | 23 | 6 | 5 | 73 | 34 | +39 | 75 | 2000 CAF Cup first round[a] |
| 3 | Orlando Pirates | 34 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 55 | 28 | +27 | 60 | |
| 4 | Manning Rangers | 34 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 60 | 38 | +22 | 60 | |
| 5 | Seven Stars | 34 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 40 | 41 | −1 | 52 | |
| 6 | Qwa Qwa Stars | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 43 | 39 | +4 | 50 | |
| 7 | Bloemfontein Celtic | 34 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 33 | 34 | −1 | 47 | |
| 8 | SuperSport United | 34 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 45 | 38 | +7 | 46 | 2000 African Cup Winners' Cup first round[a] |
| 9 | Bush Bucks | 34 | 13 | 5 | 16 | 48 | 57 | −9 | 44 | |
| 10 | Jomo Cosmos | 34 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 37 | 39 | −2 | 43 | |
| 11 | Wits University | 34 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 31 | 39 | −8 | 40 | |
| 12 | Hellenic | 34 | 8 | 16 | 10 | 32 | 43 | −11 | 40 | |
| 13 | Cape Town Spurs | 34 | 9 | 12 | 13 | 52 | 50 | +2 | 39 | |
| 14 | AmaZulu | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 40 | 53 | −13 | 39 | |
| 15 | Moroka Swallows | 34 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 29 | 44 | −15 | 37 | |
| 16 | Santos | 34 | 7 | 14 | 13 | 36 | 54 | −18 | 35 | |
| 17 | Dynamos(R) | 34 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 20 | 51 | −31 | 29 | Relegated to theNational First Division |
| 18 | Vaal Professionals(R) | 34 | 5 | 6 | 23 | 38 | 74 | −36 | 21 |