LAMONTVILLE Golden Arrows coach Manqoba Mngqithi has tipped the 2025/26 Betway Premiership season to deliver surprises, with early results pointing to a campaign where no side looks certain to dominate.
Five matches in, the table is already throwing up storylines. Sekhukhune United are sitting on top, edging Kaizer Chiefs on goal difference, while perennial winners Mamelodi Sundowns lurk two points behind in third.
Defending champions though they may be, the Brazilians have not yet hit their full stride.
Orlando Pirates, last season’s runners-up, have also stuttered. The Buccaneers are adjusting to life under new coach Abdeslam Ouaddou and two early defeats have left them lying fifth and already playing catch-up.
Mngqithi, speaking after his side’s narrow defeat to Chiefs at the weekend, believes the unpredictable nature of the opening rounds could set the tone for the rest of the campaign.
“Personally I’m impressed with how the league looks like because I like competition, a contest and for each and every coach to dig a little bit deeper to try and transform his team so we can see the improvement of players and teams,” he said.
“When there’s no clear front-runners, I think it makes the competition and contest a little bit more interesting. I think this season will come with a lot of surprises and I like it like this.”
The 54-year-old mentor knows what it takes to dominate South African football, having spent over a decade with Sundowns where he was part of a technical team that won the league five times.
But with no side streaking away in the early weeks, Mngqithi sees opportunity for upstarts to disrupt the established order.
Arrows, meanwhile, have made a modest start of their own. Abafana Bes’thende have collected seven points from five matches, a return that leaves them ninth, level on points with Marumo Gallants in eighth.
For Mngqithi, the season is still about shaping his youthful squad into a unit that reflects both his philosophy and the club’s ambitions.
“We have not yet played the kind of football I want us to play but we are showing glimpses and we’re beginning to settle probably because of the points we got,” he added.
“The confidence is probably coming out more now and I am positive that we can only improve now.”
Mngqithi’s words echo a sense of optimism not only for Arrows but for a league braced for an unpredictable season where the established order could be rewritten.
