Chiefs’League history Season-by-season
1971-79 Average finish: 2nd
1971 (2nd) Chiefs’ inaugural season as a club in the first National Professional Soccer League campaign saw them win 18 out of 24 matches, score an average of 3,5 goals per game and still finish second to the club they had split from – Orlando Pirates.
1972 (3rd) Chiefs had been in contention but two defeats in their last four games saw them finish behind champions Zulu Royals [now AmaZulu] and runners-up Moroka Swallows Big XV, even though they scored in all but two of their 26 league games.
1973 (2nd) Pirates win the title by a healthy seven-point margin and had it all wrapped up two months before the last game was played. Chiefs collected 43 points from 30 games as the size of the league was expanded to 16 teams. 1974 (1st) Finally league champions, with a resounding nine-point gap over second placed Swallows and an extraordinary tally of 106 goals scored and just 27 conceded for a goaldifference of +79! Ace Ntsoelengoe’s 36-goal tally is still a record for most in a league season.
1975 (2nd) Chiefs lost out on goal-difference to Pirates, who blasted Manguang United 8-1 at Seeisoville with five goals from Shakes Mashaba to set Chiefs the target of a 13-goal win over
AmaZulu, in their last game two days later, to win the title. But AmaKhosi could only manage a 2-0 triumph.
1976 (2nd) The season was badly disrupted by the Soweto riots and again Chiefs were runners-up to Pirates as they blew their chances in their last few games. It was a horror year for the club as first Ariel ‘Pro’ Kgongoane lost his life and then manager Ewert Nene was murdered.
1977 (1st) The last season of the blackonly professional league as Chiefs come from behind to overtake Benoni and claim the crown, forced to play two matches in two days at the end of the season, against Bloemfontein Celtic and African Wanderers, to make sure.
1978 (4th) Clubs from the white National Football League joined the NPSL and the size of the league expanded to 24 teams.
Jan ‘Malombo’ Lechaba had the distinction of scoring the first goal in a mixed league as Chiefs beat Wits University 1-0 at the start of the season. 1979 (1st) Champions for a third time, finishing two points ahead of Arcadia with a club record tally of 54 points, albeit from 34 games [two points for a win]. A thrilling 4-1 win over Durban City secured the title with a hat-trick from Nelson ‘ Teenage’ Dladla.
1980-89 Average finish: 2nd
1980 (2nd) Chiefs finished five points behind Highlands Park, having been as low as 10th in the standings at one stage, prompting the resignation of Mario Tuani. Their last game victory over Leicester City ensured they finished runners-up.
1981 (1st) Highlands Park needed two points from their last two games [in those days it was two points for a win and one for a draw] but managed only one, allowing Chiefs to leapfrog them and take the title by a single point.
1982 (3rd) Chiefs were coached by owner Kaizer Motaung for the season and finished six points behind champions Durban City and five behind second placed Wits University. Chiefs loss to Wits, where Ace Ntsoelengoe got sent off for the first time in his career, ended their hopes.
1983 (2nd) The league now had 19 teams, which meant 36 games in the season. Chiefs were three points adrift as Durban City kept their crown. The key game was in October as City beat Chiefs 1-0 as soccer was played at King’s Park for the first time.
1984 (1st) A three-way tie at the top of the table was separated by goal-difference only as Chiefs edged Swallows and Durban City. They all finished on 43 points with Chiefs ending top despite losing to Pirates in their last game of the season.
1985 (8th) After 14 seasons of never having finished lower than fourth, Chiefs ended eighth, losing a club record 11 games in the season. It was the first campaign of the new starting in charge and Trott Moloto completing the season after the controversial Frenchman was fired. The club’s top scorer Dick Amukola only got six goals.
1995 (4th) Chiefs finished 12 points behind double winners Cape Town Spurs and had three coaches in one season. The season started with 14 goals in their first four matches but then petered out. It was the first campaign with three points awarded for a win. National Soccer League.
1986 (4th) Chiefs finished seven points adrift of first-time champions Rangers in Ted Dumitru’s first season as coach. Absalom ‘Scara’Thindwa became the first winner of the new Player’s Player of the Season award.
1987 (2nd) A calamity for Chiefs on the last day of the season as they needed just a draw in their final game against Bush Bucks to take the title. They had never lost to the Durban club before but fluffed it and allowed Jomo Cosmos to be crowned champions instead.
1988 (4th) Fourth place proved to be only two points behind first time champions Mamelodi Sundowns. Chiefs were always up against it after five draws in their opening eight games, which saw Dumitru fired.
1989 (1st) Unbeaten in their opening 10 games, Chiefs had the platform to go on and pip Pirates by one point and win their sixth championship. But it was a controversially awarded 85th minute penalty in their last game, that Donald Khuse converted, that ensured it.
1990-2000 Average finish: 2nd
1990 (2nd) Sundowns won by two points, helped by the fact Pirates thumped Chiefs 5-1 in AmaKhosi’s third last game of the season. It meant Augusto Palacios was let go as coach after only one season.
1991 (1st) Unity with the Federation League meant the top flight was expanded to 24 clubs again but all still only played 34 games. Chiefs won their first 17 in a row, went unbeaten through their first 22 games and took the title by four points from Sundowns.
1992 (1st) The first time Chiefs were able to retain their title, winning by three points from Hellenic, and despite switching coaches in mid-season. It was a 42-game season with a 22-team field.
1993 (6th) Chiefs had lost too many games in the early stages, leading to the dismissal of Sergio dos Santos, and under Geoff Hudson played out too many draws before finishing the season with two victories only in their final 10 matches.
1994 (5th) Another season where there was turmoil among the playing personnel and coaching staff with Philippe Troussier 1996/97 (2nd) The new Premier Soccer League was launched and Chiefs were runners-up, eight points behind champions Manning Rangers. But they did collect 66 points from 34 games, which set a new club record. 1997/98 (2nd) Runners-up again, this time five points behind Sundowns. An 11-match unbeaten run kept Chiefs in the race but they again ran out of gas towards the end of the season.
1998/99 (2nd) It was Sundowns one and Chiefs two again but this time goal difference settled the outcome. Both clubs got 75 points – a record still today albeit it from 34 games – but while Chiefs scored more than the Brazilians, Sundowns had the tighter defence. 1999/00 (3rd) Sundowns were runaway champions with Chiefs third, a full 15 points adrift as Muhsin Ertugral took over as coach and began his long-standing association with the club. A total of 12 draws proved their undoing.
2000/01 (2nd) Pirates were champions by one point but Chiefs’ undoing was a paltry 41 goals in 34 games, despite 13 from Siyabonga Nomvete. It was the season of the Ellis Park disaster which also had an impact on the players.
2001/02 (9th) It was Chiefs’ worst ever league season, and first time they missed out on the Top 8 Cup, but still a campaign where they won three cups in ‘Operation Vat Alles’. They been top of the table after two months but collapsed in the second part of the season.
2002/03 (6th) The league had been slimmed down to 16 clubs with 30 matches per league season, as we also know it now. Chiefs finished 11 points behind winners Pirates having sacked Ertugral early and left Doctor Khumalo and Donald Khuse in charge for the majority of the campaign.
2003/04 (1st) Dumitru returned to finally deliver a league championship, and in emphatic fashion too, with an impressive 63-point haul and only three defeats to end a 12-year title drought. A run of 16 matches without defeat in the middle of the season proved the foundation.
2004/05 (1st) Perennial foes Chiefs and Pirates were neck and neck until the end before Pirates fluffed their lines in their last game while Chiefs beat Bloemfontein Celtic to take the title by two points. Collins Mbesuma’s tally of 25 accounted for almost half of Chiefs’ goals.
2005/06 (3rd) Ernst Middendorp’s team were unbeaten in their opening 12 matches but there were too many draws – 14 in total. That meant they finished seven points behind champions Sundowns. 2014/15 (1st) A PSL high points haul of 69 in a 30-game season ensured a record distance between first and second as Sundowns finished runners-up, 12 points behind. Chiefs also notched up a 19-game unbeaten run and their total of 19 clean sheets was a season’s record too.
2015/16 (5th) Steve Komphela came in as the first local black coach appointed by Motaung since the days of Zero Johnson and changed the playing style to the detriment of 2006/07 (9th) Only 42 points came close to a new low as Middendorp got fired two months before the end of the season and Kosta Papic replaced him in what Kaizer Motaung later described as his “worst” managerial pick. The departure of Mbesuma to England the season before was a void they found hard to fill.
2007/08 (6th) Chiefs’ goal tally of 32 was their worst ever as it was another season of too many daws. The order of prominence in the PSL was beginning to change with SuperSport United champions, Ajax Cape Town second and Santos third.
2008/09 (3rd) It got a lot better after Chiefs lost three of their first four matches and were floundering around near the foot of the table. Goals were again a problem with Simphiwe Tshabalala top marksman with just six.
2009/10 (3rd) The World Cup season saw the campaign squashed into eight months, making for a hectic programme under new coach Vladimir Vermezovic, who took time to settle in. Chiefs finished six points behind champions SuperSport.
2010-20 Average finish: 3rd
2010/11 (3rd) Chiefs were only one point behind Pirates, who won the title on a dramatic last day when Ajax Cape Town let it slip from their firm grasp. AmaKhosi lost only one game in the second half of the season but that still did not prove enough.
2011/12 (5th) Vermezovic did not complete the season when it became obvious a third campaign with the Serbian in charge would prove fruitless and the club decided to cut its losses. Pirates won the title with Swallows in second place.
2012/13 (1st) A title again after seven years without the crown as Stuart Baxter’s transition style worked wonders. Chiefs’ first league game was a 6-0 win over AmaZulu and they went 11 games without a loss to set themselves ahead of the chasing pack.
2013/14 (2nd) A two horse race with Sundowns for the title, which the Brazilian won in the end by two points after coming from 10 points behind. Chiefs conceded just 17 goals which was their best defensive record since 11 in 2004. their performance. Finishing was also a major problem as Chiefs drew 13 of their 30 games.
2016/17 (4th) Ten points adrift for Chiefs from new champions Bidvest Wits at the end of an even more uninspiring campaign, with alarm bells beginning to ring within the club.
2017/18 (3rd) Chiefs post their lowest goals tally for a single season as they score 27 at an average of less than one per game. They also complete a third season without a single trophy.
2018/19 (9th) Another low mark for the club as 39 points is the least they have ever got in a season. Unknown Italian Giovanni Solinas was the latest in a long line of questionable coaching appointments and Ernst Middendorp brought back but failed to get them into the top eight.
2019/20 (2nd) Not since 1987 has Chiefs had such a calamitous campaign, blowing a massive lead and being pipped on the last day of the season by nemesis Sundowns. They need only beat lowly Baroka to win the title but could only manage a draw. KO