The Carling Knockout is the next piece of silverware up for grabs in the 2024-25 Premier Soccer League season and has for the most part seen a varied winners’ list in the past.
A total of 18 clubs have been champions in its various guises since it was first played in 1982, though only one has managed to get into double figures and stands head and shoulders above the rest on the winners’ list.
Here is the honour roll of the past winners ahead of the start of the 2024 edition this coming weekend.
🚨#𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬🚨
— Official PSL (@OfficialPSL) October 13, 2024
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ARCADIA SHEPHERDS
Title wins (1): 1982
Arcadia were the very first champions of the competition 41 years ago as they beat Highlands Park 2-0 in a replay after the original final finished 1-1. Vincent Julius and Gerald Julius scored in either half for the Pretoria club.
DURBAN BUSH BUCKS
Title wins (1): 1987
Bush Bucks had a stunning upset of Orlando Pirates in the final, which was played over two legs but still needed a replay in a third game. Pirates won the first match 3-1 in Durban before Bush Bucks stunned their hosts with a 2-0 success in Orlando. The game went to a third clash and Bush Bucks triumphed 2-1. They had lost the final to Kaizer Chiefs in 1984.
DYNAMOS
Title wins (1): 1991
The now-defunct Dynamos defeated Giant Blackpool 2-1 in a replay of the 1991 final after the first game finished 2-2. Marks Maponyane was on the scoresheet for Dynamos, while a certain John ‘Shoes’ Moshoeu netted for Blackpool.
AMAZULU
Title wins (1): 1992
AmaZulu’s only success came in 1992, which is also the last time they lifted a trophy of any sort. They stunned the much more fancied Kaizer Chiefs 3-1 in the final. The AmaKhosi were the best team in the country by a long shot in those days, so it was a major cup upset. This is also the only time Usuthu have reached the final of this competition.
QWAQWA STARS
Title wins (1): 1994
Later to be known as Free State Stars, the club had the moniker of QwaQwa Stars when they lifted the trophy back in 1994, beating Hellenic 3-2 in the final. Bunene Ngaduane scored a brace and Meshack Tsotetsi netted in the first minute of extra time to seal victory for the team.
ORLANDO PIRATES
Title wins (1): 2011
Pirates have been cursed in this competition, reaching nine finals in the past but registering just a single victory in the decider. That came in 2011 when they beat BidVest Wits 3-1 to finally lift the trophy after so much heartache. Eight final losses out of nine is a horrendous record for the proud Soweto club.
BLOEMFONTEIN CELTIC
Title wins (1): 2012
Celtic stunned Mamelodi Sundowns with a 1-0 win in the 2012 decider as Botswana international Joel Mogorosi scored the only goal, though there was some dispute about whether the ball crossed the line. This was the game that saw the sacking of Dutch coach Johan Neeskens and heralded the start of the Pitso Mosimane era at Chloorkop.
SUPERSPORT UNITED
Title wins (1): 2014
SuperSport have been to four finals but only won one, which was a thrilling 3-2 success against Platinum Stars in one of the best cup deciders ever seen in South African football. Matsatsantsa lost in the final in 2004, 2005 and 2016.
CAPE TOWN CITY
Title wins (1): 2016
City had only been in existence a matter of months when they lifted the trophy, beating SuperSport United 2-1 in the final. That was achieved under current coach Eric Tinkler, who moved to SuperSport at the end of the season but has since returned to Cape Town.
BAROKA FC
Title wins (1): 2018
Baroka claimed an almighty scalp when they defeated Orlando Pirates on penalties to lift the trophy in 2018. The game finished 2-2 after extra time and it was the Limpopo club – now in the second tier – who held their nerve in the shootout.
STELLENBOSCH FC
Title wins (1): 2023
Stellenbosch are the defending champions after they edged TS Galaxy on penalties following a 1-1 draw in the 2023 final to claim their first piece of major silverware and show their rapid rise as a force in the local game.
UMTATA BUSH BUCKS
Title wins (2): 1993, 1996
The Eastern Cape side lifted the trophy twice in four seasons during their heyday in the early 1990s. They defeated Santos in the 1993 final before a 1-0 victory over QwaQwa Stars in four years later in a replay of the final after the first game finished 1-1. William Mugeyi got the only goal of the second match.
AJAX CAPE TOWN
Title wins (2): 2000, 2008
Now known as Cape Town Spurs, the club still had their relationship with Ajax Amsterdam when they lifted the trophy on two occasions. They stunned Orlando Pirates 4-1 in a replay of the 2000 final after the first game finished 1-1. And they defeated The Buccaneers again in 2008, this time by a 2-1 margin as Mabhuti Khenyeza netted a brace inside 16 minutes. Ajax also lost finals in 2006 and 2009.
JOMO COSMOS
Title wins (2): 2002, 2005
Cosmos were champions twice in four years as they edged Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 in the decider in 2002, having been spanked 5-0 in the final the year before by the same opponents. They followed that up with a penalty shootout win over SuperSport United in 2005 after the teams had played to a 1-1 draw.
PLATINUM STARS
Title wins (2): 2006, 2013
The club were known as Silver Stars when they lifted the trophy for the first time, beating Ajax Cape Town 3-1 in the final as Simba Marumo scored a hat-trick. They repeated that feat seven years later with a shock 2-1 win over Pirates, which came months after they had also lifted the MTN8. Stars made the final in 2003 (lost to Kaizer Chiefs) and 2013 (lost to SuperSport United).
BIDVEST WITS
Title wins (3): 1985, 1995, 2017
The club was simply Wits University when they won their first two titles, beating Kaizer Chiefs 2-1 in a replay after the first two legs of the final finished 2-2 on aggregate. A decade later they repeated the feat with a 1-0 win over Orlando Pirates, but they had to wait 22 years for their next triumph as they claimed a 1-0 success over Bloemfontein Celtic in 2017.
MAMELODI SUNDOWNS
Title wins (4): 1990, 1999, 2015, 2019
Sundowns have reached eight finals in the past but have a 50 per cent win record with four triumphs. Their first was a 2-1 aggregate win over Orlando Pirates in 1990, before they defeated Free State Stars 2-0 in 1999. It was a while before their next win in 2015 when they outclassed Kaizer Chiefs to win 3-1, and then claimed a 2-1 success over Maritzburg United in 2019.
KAIZER CHIEFS
Title wins (13): 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010
Far and away the most successful side in the history of the competition with 13 victories, more than three times as many as the next best, though the last triumph came all the way back in 2010. Much of their good work was done early on as they claimed five of the first eight competitions played, claimed two more in the 1990s before a burst of six more titles between 2001 and 2010. How they would dearly love to win again this season, having not lifted a trophy of any sort since 2015, the longest barren spell in the club’s history.