The Premier Soccer League (PSL) relegation and promotion play-offs connects the Betway Premiership with the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
The mini-league offers a last chance for clubs on both sides of the divide to secure their place in the top flight.
HOW THE PLAY OFFS WORK?
While the second-tier champion earns automatic promotion and the bottom Premiership side is relegated outright. The play-offs determine the final spot through a tense three-team mini-league.
This stage features the club that finishes 15th in the Premiership alongside the second and third-placed teams from the National First Division. From there, nothing is guaranteed.
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The format is brutal: a six-match home-and-away round-robin where each team plays the others twice. Every point matters, every goal matters, and even goal difference can become the difference between survival and collapse.
2025/26 PSL BETWAY PERMIERSHIP RELEGATION/PROMOTION FIXTURES
All matches are scheduled to kick off at 15:00
- 26 May 2026: Cape Town City FC vs Milford FC (Athlone Stadium)
- 30 May 2026: Magesi FC vs Cape Town City FC (at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium)
- 03 June 2026: Milford FC vs Magesi FC (Richards Bay Stadium)
- 06 June 2026: Milford FC vs Cape Town City FC (Richards Bay Stadium)
- 10 June 2026: Cape Town City FC vs Magesi FC (Athlone Stadium)
- 13 June 2026: Magesi FC vs Milford FC (Old Peter Mokaba Stadium).
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There are no margins for error, and the pressure is amplified by relaxed squad rules that allow teams to field their strongest, most experienced line-ups without certain developmental restrictions.
At the end of the mini-league, only the top team earns a place in the next season’s Betway Premiership. The other two are left to either rebuild in the second tier or deal with the financial fallout of failure.
Because beyond football, the stakes are economic.
Top-flight status brings television revenue, sponsorship opportunities, and stability through league funding. Dropping out of it often forces clubs into financial strain and long-term restructuring.
PSL chairman Irvin Khoza has long defended the system as a way to maintain competitiveness and commercial interest, even as critics argue it heavily favours top-flight sides with greater resources.
Results in the past 10 years
- 🛰️2024/25: Orbit College (Won promotion)
- 🐬2023–24: Richards Bay (Retained status)
- 🔴2022–23: Cape Town Spurs (Won promotion)
- 🐦⬛2021–22: Moroka Swallows (Retained status)
- 🌶️2020–21: Chippa United (Retained status)
- 🐆2019–20: Black Leopards (Retained status)
- 🔵2018–19: Maritzburg United (Retained status)
- 🐆2017–18: Black Leopards (Won promotion)
- 🌳2016–17: Baroka FC (Retained status).