It may be early doors for Mamelodi Sundowns with only nine games played, but with almost a third of the season done, they are on track to break yet another scoring record.
Just how many points they may end up with this campaign with a 100 per cent win record so far is anybody’s guess, but with 19 goals scored in nine games, they could better their own mark for most goals in a 30-game Premier Soccer League campaign.
Sundowns finished the 2022/23 DStv Premiership season as the leading scorers in the league for the third year in a row – and sixth time in the last eight campaigns – but were actually down on their record mark set 12 months prior.
Sundowns scored 52 goals, four fewer than in 2021/22, but still romped to a championship victory by 16 points to match the record margin set the set the year before.
If they continue at their current rate this campaign – and there is no reason why they should not – they will end with 63 goals, shattering the current best mark.
Finishing as top scorers in the DStv Premiership has historically been no guarantee of the title, although this has become more of a trend in recent campaigns, spearheaded by the free-scoring Brazilians.
In only 12 of the 27 seasons since the formation of the Premier Soccer League in 1996/97 has the league's top scoring team finished the campaign at the summit of the table.
In fact, no club had been both champions and top of the goals tally in the PSL until Kaizer Chiefs managed it in 2004/05, and they have subsequently been followed by Mamelodi Sundowns (eight times) and SuperSport United (twice).
In 2012/13, champions Kaizer Chiefs and runners-up Platinum Stars scored the same number of goals as the AmaKhosi achieved the feat for the second time, albeit in a shared capacity.
Chiefs managed the most goals ever in an DStv Premiership campaign when they scored 73 in the 1998/99 season, but still only managed a second-place finish, ironically finishing behind Sundowns on goal-difference. That was over a 34-game term.
Chiefs and Sundowns had held the record for the most goals since the league was reduced to 30 games per season with AmaKhosi netting 55 times in 2004/05, thanks largely to the 25 goals from Zambian hitman Collins Mbesuma, and Sundowns the same tally in the 2015/16 season.
But that was eclipsed by the 56 goals Sundowns scored in 2021/22, a mark they had seemed set to smash last campaign until some late season wobbles.
MOST GOALS IN A PSL SEASON
OVER A 34-GAME SEASON
1996/97: Kaizer Chiefs – 54
1997/98: Manning Rangers – 58
1998/99: Kaizer Chiefs – 73
1999/00: Orlando Pirates – 72
2000/01: Orlando Pirates – 60
2001/02: Black Leopards – 58
OVER A 30-GAME SEASON
2002/03: SuperSport United – 54
2003/04: SuperSport United – 48
2004/05: Kaizer Chiefs – 55
2005/06: Mamelodi Sundowns – 45
2006/07: Mamelodi Sundowns – 45
2007/08: Ajax Cape Town – 44
2008/09: SuperSport United – 45
2009/10: SuperSport United – 51
2010/11: Mamelodi Sundowns – 52
2011/12: Moroka Swallows – 48
2012/13: Kaizer Chiefs, Platinum Stars – 48
2013/14: Mamelodi Sundowns – 51
2014/15: Orlando Pirates – 46
2015/16: Mamelodi Sundowns – 55
2016/17: Mamelodi Sundowns – 52
2017/18: Mamelodi Sundowns – 49
2018/19: Cape Town City – 47
2019/20: Kaizer Chiefs – 48
2020/21: Mamelodi Sundowns – 49
2021/22: Mamelodi Sundowns – 56
2022/23: Mamelodi Sundowns – 52