SuperSport’s acclaimed documentary series returns with both Soweto giants at the heart of a compelling behind-the-scenes journey into the history, passion, pressure and people that make Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates two of the most powerful institutions in South African football.
There are football rivalries defined by what happens on the pitch, and then there is the Soweto Derby – a rivalry that has grown far beyond 90 minutes between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs to become woven into the fabric of South African life.
It exists in family living rooms and friendships, in the colours people wear, the songs they sing, the arguments they have and the stories passed from one generation to the next.
For millions of supporters, choosing Chiefs or Pirates is part of who they are, with the badge representing far more than a football club. It is that extraordinary sense of identity, history and belonging that makes Giants Season 2 such compelling storytelling.
After taking viewers behind the scenes at Orlando Pirates in its acclaimed first season, SuperSport’s Giants returns this Sunday, 27 September at 20:30, expanding its story to include Kaizer Chiefs alongside Orlando Pirates and bringing South Africa’s two Soweto giants into the same documentary universe for the first time.
But for viewers who want to relive where it all began, the journey back into the Giants universe begins tomorrow.
SuperSport will air all five episodes of Season 1 as a special Giants omnibus on Saturday, 26 September, on SuperSport PSL, with the marathon screening running from 17:30 through to 22:35.
It gives audiences the perfect opportunity to revisit the acclaimed first season and the story of Orlando Pirates before stepping into the much bigger world of Season 2 on Sunday night.
Giants is a SuperSport docuseries produced in collaboration with the award-winning creative storytelling company T+W, bringing together SuperSport’s access to the sporting world with T+W’s reputation for creating deeply human, cinematic sports stories that go beyond the result.
T+W’s credentials include the acclaimed Chasing the Sun series, which followed the Springboks’ journeys to their 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup triumphs. Chasing the Sun 2, produced by T+W for SuperSport, earned an International Emmy nomination for Best Sports Documentary and further recognition at the 2026 South African Film and Television Awards.
That same commitment to character, authenticity and human storytelling sits at the heart of Giants.
For series director Luthando Tshaya, bringing Chiefs into the story was always part of the bigger vision.
“Kaizer Chiefs was always part of the original Giants concept. From the beginning, the idea was to feature both Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. Like the history of South African football, Pirates come first and Chiefs follow.”
Having both clubs in the same season allows SuperSport and T+W to explore a rivalry, history and culture that extends well beyond football, while going inside the institutions to understand what that weight actually feels like for the people who carry it.
“Having both clubs in the same season gave us access to a rivalry, a history and a culture that goes far beyond what happens on the pitch,” says Tshaya.
“It also meant that we could tell a more complete story about what it means to be part of these two institutions.”
That is important because Giants is not interested simply in asking which club is bigger or which badge carries more weight. Instead, it explores the people behind those badges – players, coaches, families, executives and the many people whose work begins long before the players walk onto the pitch.
Producer Busi Moshodi says the unprecedented access demanded both ambition and sensitivity.
“It required a very careful balance between being respectful of the clubs and their respective legacies, while still pursuing the access and storytelling that makes Giants compelling.”
That access allows viewers to see what is usually hidden from public view: the planning, preparation, sacrifice, decision-making and pressure behind the 90 minutes.
“What supporters experience over 90 minutes is the culmination of an enormous amount of preparation, coordination and commitment from people across the entire organisation,” Moshodi says.
At the heart of that storytelling is a simple idea: footballers are people before they are footballers.
They are sons, fathers, brothers and friends, carrying the expectations of families and communities, while coaches and executives navigate the enormous pressure that comes with representing institutions of this magnitude.
“One of the biggest things we saw is how deeply people care about the badge,” Tshaya says.
“Chiefs and Pirates are very different institutions with different cultures and identities, but inside both clubs there is an enormous sense of responsibility. You are not just representing yourself. You are carrying generations of history, families, communities and supporters.”
That responsibility becomes even more powerful through the lens of the Soweto Derby.
“Our challenge was to portray that rivalry respectfully and truthfully,” Tshaya explains. “The intensity is real, but so are the families, friendships, faith, history and communities connected to these clubs.”
Those themes – Family, Faith and Beyond Football – became central to the series, allowing Giants to explore the human beings behind the famous jerseys rather than allowing the rivalry to become the only story.
That is evident in the journeys of young players such as Duba Shabalala and Relebohile Mofokeng, whose stories demonstrate that footballing talent is only one part of what shapes a player.
“For me, these stories show exactly why Giants was made,” says Tshaya. “Duba and Relebohile are more than footballers. They are young men shaped by their families, their communities and the circumstances around them. They are becoming leaders and examples to other young people, whether they realise it or not.”
Perhaps one of the most moving aspects of Season 2 is the idea of football as something inherited rather than simply watched.
Moshodi recalls growing up in Mabopane and watching her father and their neighbour – close friends who supported opposing teams – argue endlessly over which club was the greatest in South Africa.
They could passionately debate Chiefs and Pirates, but the rivalry never threatened their friendship.
During the making of Giants, she found versions of that story everywhere, including families where club loyalties are passed from one generation to the next.
“Yet the rivalry becomes part of the relationship rather than something that divides them,” she says.
It is a powerful reminder that the Soweto Derby can be both divisive and unifying, creating memories, traditions and relationships that last a lifetime.
Season 2 captures that passion in unexpected ways, including when Kemiso Motaung describes Pirates and Chiefs through the world of Star Wars, casting Pirates as the dark side and Chiefs as the light. Beneath the humour is a deeper truth: for many supporters, the rivalry is not something that begins at kick-off and disappears at fulltime. It forms part of their identity.
That emotional investment also creates enormous pressure inside both institutions. Giants explores what happens when players and coaches are expected to succeed not only for themselves, but for supporters, families and generations who have invested their hopes in the badge.
For Tshaya, the most revealing moments are often those when things go wrong.
“The television gold is not simply the biggest or most sensational moment. It is seeing how people respond when things do not go according to plan. What do you do when you are expected to win? How do you respond when you lose? How do you keep going? Those are the moments that reveal character.”
It is this access to the moments between the headlines that makes Giants such an important addition to SuperSport’s storytelling portfolio, while T+W’s involvement reinforces the ambition to use sport as a vehicle for powerful human stories.
SuperSport has long been the home of live sport in South Africa, but its role extends beyond broadcasting the action.
Through productions such as Giants and its collaboration with T+W on acclaimed documentaries including Chasing the Sun, SuperSport brings audiences closer to the people, places and experiences behind the sport.
Giants is therefore more than a documentary about two football clubs. It is a window into South African football culture and the people who have helped build, protect and carry it forward.
And the story is now reaching an even broader DStv audience.
The launch of DStv Starter has brought more entertainment and selected live football within reach, with the new package offering 85+ channels, including 10 more channels than the previous Access package, at the same starting price.
Starter is available from R99 per month on DStv Stream and R150 per month on satellite, and includes the new Wethu+ and SuperSport KICKOFF channels.
For football fans, that means more opportunities to follow the stories and fixtures that matter. Wethu+ is a new entertainment destination combining local stories, movies, music, family programming and selected live PSL action, while SuperSport KICKOFF offers selected live football including PSL, Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A and Ligue 1 fixtures.
That makes Giants particularly well placed within the new DStv viewing experience, bringing the culture and stories behind South African football closer to more households while building towards the live action that follows.
And the timing could hardly be more fitting.
With Season 2 debuting on 27 September, the anticipation around the rivalry will build towards the first of two scheduled Betway Premiership meetings between the clubs, with Orlando Pirates hosting Kaizer Chiefs on 31 October, live on SuperSport.
For viewers, it creates a remarkable journey from documentary to live sport: first gaining an intimate understanding of the two institutions through Giants, then watching those same institutions collide in one of the most anticipated fixtures on the South African football calendar.
Ultimately, Giants Season 2 is about more than the rivalry. It is about the people behind the jerseys, the families behind the players, the pressure behind the performances and the history behind the badges.
“I hope audiences see that these are stories that reflect every corner of South Africa,” says Tshaya. “Somewhere in these stories, you will see your own life, your own family, your own struggles and your own hopes.”
That universality is what makes Giants bigger than the rivalry it documents.
You may arrive because you support Chiefs or Pirates, because you want to understand what happens behind the scenes, or simply because you love football.
What keeps you watching is something far more familiar: the human desire to belong, to succeed, to make your family proud, to overcome difficult moments and to leave something behind for those who come after you.
“For me, that is what Giants is ultimately about,” Tshaya says.
“It is about people. It is about what they believe in, who they carry with them and what they are willing to overcome to become Giants.”
And with Kaizer Chiefs now joining Orlando Pirates inside the Giants universe, the story has become considerably bigger.
Giants Season 2 premieres Sunday, 27 September at 20:30 on SuperSport PSL, SuperSport KICKOFF and Wethu+.
For DStv Starter viewers, Giants sits alongside a growing selection of football and entertainment available through the new package, with Wethu+ and SuperSport KICKOFF forming part of Starter’s expanded offering. The package gives football fans access to selected live action while Wethu+ brings together local entertainment and selected PSL football in one destination.
For those with the DStv Sports package, the entire Giants series is also available, giving viewers the opportunity to experience the story from the beginning and follow the journey towards a new chapter in one of South African football’s most enduring rivalries.
Because Giants is ultimately not just about watching Chiefs and Pirates.
It is about understanding them – and seeing the people, families, pressure, history and belief behind the badges.
As the road to the next Soweto Derby begins, SuperSport and T+W are once again putting powerful South African sports storytelling at the centre of the experience, bringing audiences closer to the sport by telling the stories that make us care about it in the first place.
Giants Season 1 omnibus: Saturday, 26 September, all five episodes from 17:30 to 22:35 on SuperSport PSL.
Giants Season 2 premieres Sunday, 27 September at 20:30 on SuperSport PSL, SuperSport KICKOFF and Wethu+.