As Orlando Pirates prepare to face Mamelodi Sundowns in a title race six-pointer a week after beating Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 in a thrilling Soweto Derby, there is still no doubt that the latter leads the way in terms of fanfare.
However, the dynamics of the Buccaneers' rivalries between Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns have shifted over the course of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) era.
Chiefs and Pirates remain South Africa's most popular clubs, due to being based in the densely-populated Soweto, and their storied histories.
Nevertheless, Soweto clubs know now that if they want to win the league, coming home from a trip to Pretoria with three points is even more vital than a win over their neighbours. Last season, Sundowns stormed to a seventh straight title by 23 points.
Pirates have been runners-up in four of those seasons, including the last. In 2024-25, they are in with a chance, having reduced the deficit to six points with a game in hand.
A tense history
Fixtures between the sides have been tense in recent years, with multiple flashpoints. If there was a single day most responsible for the shifting dynamics in the rivalry between Pirates and Sundowns, it was 11 February, 2017.
Newly-crowned as CAF Champions League winners, Sundowns made another major statement by trouncing a hapless Buccaneers 6-0 in the Premiership. Before Sundowns were crowned as African champions with a win over Zamalek, Pirates had been the only South African team to achieve the honour.
Still smarting from the loss of their special status within the country and now suffering further indignity, Pirates fans stormed onto the field at Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld, which will host the clash on February 8 this year.
Ironically, it was a relapse of the same sort of crowd trouble which had broken out in decades past during games between Chiefs and Pirates, before the temperature in that rivalry was turned down a notch.
For Luvuyo Memela, who played on the wing for Pirates on that day at Loftus and is now a free agent, the rivalry with Sundowns was never the same afterwards.
Memela told ESPN: "Every time, for me, it was like: 'These guys (Sundowns); they need to pay us back.' Even when we scored two goals [against] Sundowns [in later encounters], I won't be happy. I want us to score more, more, more - even if it's three [goals].
"For me, it feels like it happened yesterday. If we can beat them 3-0, we can beat them 3-1, we can beat them 1-0, we'll be happy. In my mind, there's this thing: I can be happy, yes, but there's still our six goals. It (Pirates' Payback for the drubbing) never happened, but we will see - maybe in future, it will happen."
With Pirates players in the dressing room while fans stormed the pitch, Mpumi Khoza - the son of chairman Irvin Khoza - came into the room. Khoza Jr. has since taken on a more hands-on role at the club as football director. However, at the time, he was there to speak from his heart as the chairman's son.
Not all Pirates players present for the speech remember it as a seminal moment in the rivalry between the Buccaneers and Sundowns, but for Memela, Khoza Jr. 's words struck.
"For me - for anyone - if you are losing [by] six and it's my father's team - a family team, basically, so it's mine as well - I would tell anyone anything even if I have to strip the jersey from players, because that thing was not nice," Memela said.
"If he did that, every player would understand, but he said: 'Guys, I know it's tough - you're hurt. You're going to go back. Police are going to try move the fans out that side... but we still have 10 minutes. I don't care if the score is 6-0 or whatever.
'I know most of you don't want to go back, but you know what? This is Pirates. Pirates always have character... Go back there and show character. The moment you enter that field, it shows you've got character as a person. Us crying or you guys fighting or whatever; it's too late now. The only thing [that matters] is you guys going out there, and please do this for me.'
"The way he said it: I was like: 'Wow. I've learned something today.' Then, we went out and we created maybe four chances in those 10 minutes we could have scored, but we missed them."
And yet...
Even for Memela, however, the fierce games between Sundowns and Pirates never quite matched the Soweto Derby as an experience: "With Chiefs, the rivalry is bigger than Sundowns. [It's bigger than] any derby in South Africa."
His words were echoed by current Orlando Pirates head coach José Riveiro, who said in his post-match press conference after the Soweto Derby last week that regardless of whether or not the Soweto giants are in the title race together, Kaizer Chiefs remain Pirates' biggest rival.
Riviero told the media: "Absolutely [the Soweto Derby will always be the biggest game]. I think there's unique components around this game that for me are second to none."
He continued: "Even if we're going to play very key games - hopefully, we need to keep this rhythm if we want to have those key games in the last part of the season... this is something special. I don't know how to describe it.
"The people express to you in your neighbourhood, in your supermarket... They have been talking to me about this game since six weeks ago. There's nothing in the middle - the history of both clubs, the history of Soweto, the role - and I'm not going to pretend to be an expert here - that football played in your [South African] history goes beyond the meaning of sport itself.
"I think these two clubs (Pirates and Chiefs) have an important role in that history and it's a beautiful event. It's something that being here even once as a spectator, you have to feel grateful... This is my sixth derby. I feel more than grateful. Hopefully, we will play for big things sooner rather than later, but the derby, for me, is eating at a different table."
Pirates followed up their Soweto Derby success with a 2-1 win over Sekhukhune United on Feb. 5. Sundowns, who beat SuperSport United 3-0 in midweek, lead Pirates by six points but the Buccaneers have a game in hand.
Largely thanks to the stability which Riveiro and his technical team have brought, the Buccaneers today are a far cry from the team which shipped six goals in 2017. There have been few occasions in recent memory in which this fixture appeared so tough to call on paper.
The game between Pirates and Sundowns will almost certainly attract more fanfare than the Tshwane Derby, but less than its Soweto counterpart.
However, while the Soweto Derby remains the fixture with the biggest impact far beyond the field of play, it is the game on February 8 which could decide the title race.