Promising start has Kaizer Chiefs fans dreaming of title challenge this season

There is a long way to go to next May, with plenty of twists and turns in the campaign in which their squad depth will be tested with CAF Confederation Cup football in the mix too.

In order to be champions they will likely need somewhere around 70 points come the end of the campaign, unless Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns falter. 

That is an average of 2.33 per game and gives little margin for error. It also happens to be the exact rate they are going at now with seven points from three matches.

Their average of two goals per game is also welcome this season so far and a big improvement on recent campaigns.

We will likely know by the 10-game mark I they are genuine contenders, though last season they were in the mix and ultimately fell well short.

They had 19 points from those 10 games, their second highest in the last decade, but had to settle for third come the end of the campaign.

The most they have managed in that period was an impressive 25 points from 10 games under Ernst Middendorp in the COVID-hit 2019/20 season, but even that was not enough.

They would finish second that year, pipped on the final day of the season by Sundowns when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Baroka FC in the Gauteng bio-bubble.

At that stage, they had a whopping 10-point lead over Sundowns, though they had played two games more. 

They managed 17 in the 2022/23 campaign but ended up fifth that year, and 16 in 2016/17 when they finished fourth.  

It is a far cry from the lowly 10 points in the 2020/21 season that ended with an eighth-place finish, or the 11 points in 2023/24 as they finished 10th. 

The signs are promising this season, but while Pirates and Sundowns have shown consistency in grinding out results over the last few seasons, it is a trait Chiefs have yet to master. That will be the key to any success they have. 

Kaizer Chiefs after 10 league games and final position