The Soweto Derby is a football rivalry between Premiership teams Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates in South Africa. It was first contested on 24 January 1970. Matches between the two rivals attract a large fanbase. The rivalry is recognised as one of the biggest derbies in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. The Soweto Derby is different to the Original Soweto Derby, which is contested between Pirates and

Moroka Swallows Moroka Swallows Football Club (often referred to as Swallows or The Birds) is a South African professional football club based in Soweto, Johannesburg, in the Gauteng province. Founded in 1947, Swallows are one of the original two Soweto clubs ...

. Based in

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, the rivalry stems from the fact that Kaizer Chiefs was formed by a former Orlando Pirates star

Kaizer Motaung Kaizer Motaung OIS (born 16 October 1944) is a former South African association football player and founder of Kaizer Chiefs FC, of which he is chairman and managing director. He was nicknamed "Chincha Guluva". Early life Born in the Orla ...

. Motaung had left Orlando Pirates to go play professional soccer in the now defunct

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

for a team called the

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (1967), National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League ...

. Upon returning home, he found a lot of infighting among the hierarchy at Pirates. He decided to form a Kaizer XI, which initially played friendly matches with various clubs in South Africa and then this entity evolved to the Kaizer Chiefs.

Overall record

Win percentage(%)

All-time results

League

Cup results

''*'' Played as a neutral game with one side designated as the 'home team'.

Honours

Head-to-head ranking in the
South African Premiership The South African Premiership, also known as the Betway Premiership for sponsorship reasons, and commonly referred to as the PSL after its governing body, is a professional soccer league in South Africa and the highest level of the South Afr ...
(1996–2024)

* Total: Kaizer Chiefs with 14 higher finishes, Orlando Pirates with 14 higher finishes (as of the end of the 2023–24 season). * The biggest difference in positions for Kaizer Chiefs from Orlando Pirates is 7 places ( 2016–17season), The biggest difference in positions for Orlando Pirates from Kaizer Chiefs is 8 places ( 2023–24 season).

References

{{Greater Johannesburg, sports Association football rivalries Kaizer Chiefs F.C. Orlando Pirates F.C. 1970 establishments in South Africa Recurring sporting events established in 1970 Lethabo Phakwago