Orlando Pirates were crowned 2025/26 Betway Premiership champions after a 2-0 win over Orbit College at Mbombela Stadium yesterday, a result that handed the title to Pirates on the final day of the season.
Both goals in the match came via own goals by Orbit College, the decisive moment coming in first-half stoppage time when Thalente Mbatha's relentless pressing forced Orbit goalkeeper Sabelo Nkomo into a catastrophic error that put Pirates ahead. A second own goal settled the game and sealed the championship for Pirates.
The victory left Orlando Pirates standing one point clear of Mamelodi Sundowns, ending Sundowns' eight-year domestic dominance and bringing Pirates their first league crown in 14 years. The championship also completed a domestic treble for Pirates after earlier wins in the MTN8 and the Carling Knockout Cup, cementing a season of reclaimed glory.
The title fight resolved several other high-stakes outcomes on the final day. Orbit College were automatically relegated to the Motsepe Foundation Championship after results elsewhere went against them, ending a one-season stay in the top flight. Orbit finished the campaign with 24 points, 18 losses and 47 goals conceded. Magesi narrowly clinched the relegation play-off spot by beating Richards Bay 1-0 in Seshego, while Marumo Gallants secured survival with a 0-0 draw against Stellenbosch.
At the other end of the table, Durban City secured a place in the top eight and qualified for next season's MTN8, and Kaizer Chiefs lost their final match of the campaign against Chippa United in Durban, closing the season on a low note for the Soweto club.
Context matters: this title ends a 14-year wait for Orlando Pirates and stops a long run of Sundowns dominance. The 2025/26 betway Premiership trophy returns to a club that has now won the major domestic honours available this season, a sweep that reshapes the hierarchy of South African football after nearly a decade of the same leader at the top.
The friction in the result is unavoidable. The championship hinge — two own goals and a one-point margin — leaves room for argument about how decisive the triumph was. A title won on opponents' mistakes and by the narrowest of margins is still a title, but Sundowns' presence a single point behind highlights that the balance of power flipped by the slimmest of edges.
What happens next is already clear for some players and clubs: Orbit head back to the National First Division after one season in the PSL, Magesi must prepare for a relegation play-off, and Orlando Pirates will begin the off-season as champions with a treble to defend and expectations to meet. Thalente Mbatha's pressing — the play that forced Sabelo Nkomo's error — will be replayed as the moment that changed the season, and it will define how supporters remember this title.
Orlando Pirates leave this final day as the country's foremost domestic team: they ended an eight-year run at the top, ended a 14-year league drought for their fans, and collected three major trophies in a single season. That combination of results makes a simple judgment defensible — on merit and on momentum, Pirates are now the team every rival must beat next season.
