Pirates to face familiar foes

The opening weekend of fixtures for the new 2012/13 Absa Premiership season has a familiar look to it.

A public draw was made by the PSL on Tuesday to determine the fixtures for the upcoming campaign, and the outcome will see Orlando Pirates begin the defence of their title at home to Lamontville Golden Arrows, the team they defeated on the final day of the last campaign to lift the Absa Premiership trophy.

And Kaizer Chiefs must travel to AmaZulu for their opener, the same side they ended the 2011/12 campaign against in May.

Mamelodi Sundowns will play the winner of the PSL play-off tournament, one of Santos, Thanda Zulu Royal or Chippa United, while newly-promoted University of Pretoria play their first-ever top-flight match at home to Maritzburg United.

Last season's runners-up, Moroka Swallows, are away at Platinum Stars, while SuperSport United travel to Cape Town to meet Ajax.

Bloemfontein Celtic face a tough away day at Black Leopards, and Free State Stars will host BidVest Wits.

There were a number of permutations taken into account, such as the allocation of Soweto Derby matches to weekends and the fact that teams from the same geographical location would not play at home on the same weekend.

The full fixture list will be compiled using the numbers allocated to these teams, and dates and venues announced in due course. League action will start on the weekend of August 11-12.

The draw was conducted under the watchful eye of auditors KPMG, who declared it free of outside influence.

Platinum Stars vs Moroka Swallows
AmaZulu vs Kaizer Chiefs
Ajax Cape Town vs SuperSport United
Orlando Pirates vs Golden Arrows
University of Pretoria vs Maritzburg United
Mamelodi Sundowns vs Play-off Winner
Black Leopards vs Bloemfontein Celtic
Free State Stars vs BidVest Wits

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