2011–12 South African Premiership
The 2011–12 South African Premiership, known as the ABSA Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and also commonly referred to as the PSL after the governing body, was the sixteenth season of the Premiership since its establishment in 1996.
Orlando Pirates were the defending champions, having won their third Premiership title, and in the process ended SuperSport United's 3 year grip on the championship. The season kicked off on 12 August 2011 and ended on 19 May 2012.
16 teams contested the season, including two newly promoted teams – yo-yo club Jomo Cosmos – who were promoted for the second time in 3 seasons after winning the 2010–11 National First Division champions' playoff 5–4 on penalties against Bay United, and Black Leopards who came through a four-way promotion playoff, defeating Bay United 2–0 over a two-legged final. Orlando Pirates secured the title with a 4–2 win against Golden Arrows on 19 May 2012. This was their fourth PSL title overall and the second in succession. At the bottom, Jomo Cosmos was automatically relegated to the First Division while Santos was relegated via the PSL Playoff Tournament.
TV rights
The PSL announced that current digital broadcaster SuperSport had won the rights to continue broadcasting the PSL after their current contract expired at the end of the 2011–12 season. The new broadcasting deal will commence at the start of the 2012–13 season and is said to be worth R2 billion over five years. As with their outgoing contract, SuperSport will continue to lease a select number of matches to free-to-air public broadcaster SABC.Teams
The team finishing 16th and last during the 2010–11 season – Mpumalanga Black Aces – was automatically relegated from the Premiership while the team finishing 15th – Vasco da Gama – was entered into a four-way relegation/promotion playoff with 3 teams from the 2010–11 National First Division season, where they were comfortably beaten 4–2 on aggregate by Black Leopards in the semi-finals and thus relegated from the Premiership. As it was, both Black Aces and Vasco had been promoted in the previous season, so they each spent a single season in the top flight before going straight back down.Jomo Cosmos and Black Leopards had finished first and second in the Inland Stream of the 2010–11 National First Division season. Cosmos, as champions of the Inland Stream, faced off against the champions of the Coastal Stream – Bay United – and beat them 5–4 on penalties after two goalless draws, thus securing promotion to the PSL. In the next phase of the relegation/promotion playoffs Black Leopards had taken on and defeated Vasco da Gama of the PSL over two legs and proceeded to reach the final of the playoffs, where they met Bay United. Leopards continued Bay United's heartbreaking end to their season by defeating them over two legs to earn a return to the PSL after two seasons out of the top flight.
Stadiums and locations
Football teams in South Africa tend to use multiple stadiums over the course of a season for their home games. The following table will only indicate the stadium used most often by the club for their home gamesLeague table
- Winner of the 2012 Nedbank Cup will qualify for the 2013 CAF Confederation Cup.
Statistics
As of May 19, 2012| Rank | Player | Club | Goals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  AwardsThe 2011–12 PSL Awards ceremony was held on 27 May 2012.PSL Footballer of the YearThe PSL Footballer of the Year was awarded to Siyabonga Nomvethe.Palesa Shabalala The PSL Player of the Season was also awarded to Siyabonga Nomvethe. PSL Players' Player of the SeasonThe PSL Players' Player of the Season was also awarded to Siyabonga Nomvethe.PSL Red Hot Young Player of the SeasonThe PSL Red Hot Young Player of the Season was awarded to Ronwen Williams.PSL Coach of the SeasonThe PSL Coach of the Season was awarded to Gordon Igesund.PSL Top GoalscorerThe PSL Top Goalscorer award went to Siyabonga Nomvethe.PSL Goalkeeper of the SeasonThe PSL Goalkeeper of the Season award went to Wayne Sandilands.PSL Absa-lutely Awesome Goal of the SeasonThe PSL Absa-lutely Awesome Goal of the Season award went to Benni McCarthy.AttendancesThe Soweto Derby on 17 March 2012 attracted the highest crowd with 87,171.Source:
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