South Africa Premier

The league was founded in 1996 after an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnants of the National Professional Soccer League. It is stated on its website that the former name still exists today, but for legal purposes, with the Premier Soccer League being its trade name.

The league was reduced from 18 to 16 teams after the end of the 2001–02 season to avoid fixture congestion, causing the disbandment of two teams; Ria Stars and Free State Stars, though the latter was reformed and competing as of the 2020–21 season. In 2004, a match-fixing scandal rocked the football/soccer landscape in South Africa. An investigation codenamed "Operation Dribble" was launched by the police system of South Africa police in June 2004. More than 40 arrests were made, ranging from club bosses to match commissioners, referees and their assistants. Kaizer Chiefs successfully defended their league title in 2005 after they won the prestigious trophy in 2004 for the first time in a decade. The 2005–06 season saw Mamelodi Sundowns capturing the title for a fourth time. Since the 2017–18 season, they have dominated the league, winning seven consecutuve titles.

In 2007, the PSL signed a television deal with SuperSport worth R 1.6 billion, which was the biggest sporting deal in the history of the country and ranked the league into the top 15 in the world in terms of commercial broadcast deals. In the same year, ABSA replaced Castle Lager as the title sponsor, with the latter having sponsored the league since its inception. SuperSport United won 3 league titles in a row between 2008 and 2010.

As of August 2024, the league is rated fourth in Africa according to the CAF 5-year ranking system.

For the 2018–19 season, the PSL gives each club a monthly grant of R 2 million, with funds coming from the television broadcasting rights and national sponsorships, with the league champion earning R 10 million.

In 2019, ABSA increased their sponsorship deal to the PSL to R 39.9 million, which meant that the league winners would secure R 15 million. ABSA would however announce its cancellation of its sponsorship with the PSL a year later on 4 June 2020.

On 24 September 2020, DStv were announced as the new sponsor, with the league being rebranded as the DStv Premiership. MultiChoice also announced that Showmax would replace DStv as the jersey sponsor of SuperSport United F.C. so the latter would be independent to sponsor the league outright.

On the 24th of July 2024, it was announced that Betway would be sponsoring the league, with DSTV's contract ending a year early due to Multichoice's financial troubles. This is one of the biggest sponsorships in South African football history worth R900-Million for the term of 3 years.

• Trevor Phillips: 1996–1998
• Joe Ndlela: 1998–2000
• Robin Petersen: 2000–2001 (resigned)
• Trevor Phillips: 2002–2007
• Kjetil Siem: 2007–2011
• Zola Majavu: 2011 (resigned)
• Stanley Matthews: 2012 (resigned)
• Cambridge Mokanyane: 2013 (acting)
• Brand de Villers: 2013–2015
• Mato Madlala: 2016 – present (acting)