| Competition: | Premier Soccer League |
| Season: | 2012 - 13 |
| Winners: | Kaizer Chiefs |
| Relegated: | Black Leopards |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Kaizer Chiefs |
| Continentalcup2: | Confederation Cup |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | SuperSport United |
| League Topscorer: | Katlego Mashego (13 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | Platinum Stars 4-0 Free State Stars (27 October 2012)[1] |
| Biggest Away Win: | AmaZulu 0-6 Kaizer Chiefs (11 August 2012)[2] |
| Highest Scoring: | Platinum Stars 6-4 Golden Arrows (8 December 2012)[3] |
| Matches: | 240 |
| Total Goals: | 546 |
| Average Attendance: | 6, 722[4] |
| Prevseason: | 2011–12 |
| Nextseason: | 2013–14 |
The 2012 - 13 Premier Soccer League season (known as the ABSA Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the seventeenth season of the Premier Soccer League since its establishment in 1996. The season began in the second week of August 2012.
Orlando Pirates were the defending champions, having won the previous 2011-12 Premier Soccer League (PSL) season, but lost their title to Kaizer Chiefs. The season featured 14 teams from the 2011-12 PSL season and two new teams promoted from the 2011–12 National First Division: Tuks FC and Chippa United who replace relegated Santos and Jomo Cosmos.
The 2012–13 season saw the introduction of the Q-innovation system. The league schedule was split into four fixture-blocks referred to as quarters, the first and third blocks had eight fixtures, the second and fourth blocks had seven fixtures.[5]
Prize money was given to the teams who finish top of the table after each block of fixtures.[5]
| Achievement | Prize money | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st place at end of quarter 1 | 1.5m ZAR | |
| 1st place at end of quarter 2 | 1.5m ZAR | |
| 1st place at end of quarter 3 | 1.5m ZAR | |
| 1st place at end of quarter 4 | 1.5m ZAR | |
| Overall league winner | 10m ZAR |
A total of 16 teams contested the league, including 14 sides from the 2011–12 season and two promoted from the 2011–12 National First Division.
Relegation for Jomo Cosmos to the 2012–13 National First Division was confirmed on 16 May 2012, as Jomo Cosmos maintained their reputation as a yo-yo club, suffering their third relegation from the PSL in five seasons.[6] Santos had finished 15th and thus had to go through the 2011-12 PSL Playoff Tournament alongside Chippa United and Thanda Royal Zulu of the National First Division. Santos were unable to retain their place in the PSL following a 4–3 defeat in the final game of the PSL Playoff Tournament on 30 June 2012 and were subsequently relegated to the National First Division for the 2012-13 season.[7]
Tuks FC earned promotion to the PSL as 2011-12 National First Division Champions.[8] Chippa United, who had finished second in the 2011-12 National First Division season, earned their place in the PSL after defeating Santos and Thanda Royal Zulu in the 3-team PSL promotion tournament. Both teams made their first appearances in the PSL.
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 games
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaizer Chiefs |  Ace Khuse | Caretaker period ended | May 2012 | End of season | Stuart Baxter | 7 May 2012[11] | |
| Moroka Swallows | Gordon Igesund | Appointed coach of South Africa | 30 June 2012[12] | End of season |  Zeca Marques | 2 July 2012[13] | |
| Chippa United | Roger Sikhakhane | Redeployed | July 2012 | End of season | Manqoba Mngqithi | 9 July 2012[14] | |
| Bidvest Wits | Roger De Sa | Sacked | 9 July 2012[15] | End of season |  Antonio López Habas | 12 July 2012[16] | |
| Chippa United | Manqoba Mngqithi | Sacked | 22 August 2012[17] | 15 | Roger Sikhakhane | 13 September 2012 [18] | |
| Orlando Pirates |  Augusto Palacios | Health Reasons | 10 September 2012[19] | 9 | Roger De Sa | 10 September 2012 | |
| Ajax Cape Town |  Maarten Stekelenburg | Sacked | 2 October 2012[20] | 15 | Jan Versleijen | 11 February 2013[21] | |
| Golden Arrows |  Muhsin Ertugral | Quit | 22 October 2012[22] | 13 | Manqoba Mngqithi | 23 October 2012[23] | |
| Chippa United | Roger Sikhakhane | Sacked | 29 October 2012[24] | 15 | Farouk Abrahams | 11 December 2012[25] | |
| Black Leopards |  Sunday Chidzambwa | Promoted to Technical Director | 30 October 2012[26] | 11 | Ian Palmer | 30 October 2012 | |
| AmaZulu |  Roger Palmgren | Sacked | 26 November 2012[27] | 16 | Craig Rosslee | 30 October 2012[28] | |
| Mamelodi Sundowns | Johan Neeskens | Sacked | 2 December 2012[29] | 15 | Pitso Mosimane | 2 December 2012 | |
| Black Leopards | Ian Palmer | Sacked | 2 January 2013[30] | 12 | Abel Makhubele | 9 January 2013[31] | |
| Wits | Antonio López Habas | Mutual consent | 4 January 2013[32] | 9 | Clive Barker | 4 January 2012 | |
| Chippa United | Farouk Abrahams | Redeployed | 29 January 2013[33] | 15 | Wilfred Mugeyi | 30 January 2013 | |
| Chippa United | Wilfred Mugeyi | Sacked | 11 April 2013[34] | 16 | Mark Harrison | 12 April 2013[35] | |
| Ajax Cape Town | Jan Versleijen | Quit | 25 April 2013[36] | 15 | Muhsin Ertugral | 25 April 2013[37] |
The teams that finished second and third during the 2012-13 National First Division season were joined by the team that finished 15th in the 2012-13 Premier Soccer League season in a 3-team promotion and relegation playoff called the PSL Playoff Tournament.
| Team | width"175" | League | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chippa United | 2012-13 Premier Soccer League | 15th | |
| Santos | 2012–13 National First Division | 2nd | |
| Mpumalanga Black Aces | 2012–13 National First Division | 3rd |
The 3 teams participated in a mini-league in which they played one another twice (home and away) with log points being awarded for winning a match (3 points) and drawing a match (1 point). At the conclusion of the mini-league phase the team that was in first place would either earn or maintain their place in the PSL for the 2013-14 season. If the team that finished 15th in the PSL was unable to win the mini-league, they were relegated to the National First Division for the 2013–14 season.
| Team | width=250 | Qualification or relegation | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mpumalanga Black Aces (P) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 8 | ||
| 2 | Chippa United (R) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 3 | Santos | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | –2 | 2 |
--------------------
| Position | Prize money (ZAR) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10m | |
| 2 | 5m | |
| 3 | 3m | |
| 4 | 2m | |
| 5 | 1.5m | |
| 6 | 1.3m | |
| 7 | 1.1m | |
| 8 | 1m | |
| 9 | 750k | |
| 10 | 700k | |
| 11 | 650k | |
| 12 | 600k | |
| 13 | 550k | |
| 14 | 500k | |
| 15 | 450k | |
| 16 | 400k |
Top goalscorers As of 18 May 2013
Source: Premier Soccer League
