PSL don’t wait long for sponsor
Premier Soccer League chairman Irvin Khoza yesterday announced that the satellite broadcaster DStv are the new sponsors of South Africa’s top-flight domestic league.
Khoza made the announcement at a live televised press conference from DStv’s studios in Randburg yesterday evening.
The league will now be known as the DStv Premiership.
The Premier Soccer League’s relationship with Multichoice, DStv’s parent company, dates back a number of years, with SuperSport purchasing the franchise of Pretoria City as far back as 1994, and putting SuperSport United on the map.
In 2007, the PSL signed a ground-breaking television broadcast deal with SuperSport that continues to the present day.
DStv have come on board after Absa Bank ended their 13-year sponsorship of the Absa Premiership at the end of the 2019/20 season.
“We are proud of the partnership between DStv and the PSL, a natural evolution of an established relationship,” said Multichoice Group CEO Calvin Mawela.“The mutual respect and the desire between us and the PSL (is) to continue progressing the standard of South African football, both on and off the field of play, to the highest level.”
The DStv Premiership, which comes with a new trophy, will be played for from the start of the 2020/21 season, which is expected to begin in mid-October.
The PSL have yet to put out official fixtures but the league is expected to start not long after the October Fifa international break.
The 2019/20 Absa Premiership season did manage to get finished inside a bio-bubble, with Mamelodi Sundowns winning the title, pipping Kaizer Chiefs to the post.
Absa were involved in South African football for 16 years in total, also sponsoring the Absa Cup at one stage, and Absa Head of Sponsorship Mthunzi Jonas told The Citizen in June: “The reality is that we have had a 16 year relationship with the PSL…and our executive has made a decision in light of what is best for our business.”
Maritzburg United CEO Younus Kadodia added via the Premiership side’s official Twitter feed: “These are exciting times. The Team of Choice is looking forward to featuring in the DStv Premiership.