Stellenbosch FC rounded out the 2025-26 season with a point after being held to a goalless draw by Marumo Gallants on Saturday afternoon.

Stellenbosch FC drew the curtain on the 2025-26 season on Saturday, where they were held to a hard-fought draw by Marumo Gallants in Bloemfontein, with the result seeing the Maroons end the campaign in ninth place on the Betway Premiership standings.

The result and final log position both bore disappointment for Stellies, who recorded back-to-back third-place finishes in the last two seasons, but failed to paint the picture of the resilient character shown by the squad to turn performances around after a difficult start to the campaign.

“I must commend the players,” coach Gavin Hunt said after the match. “They dug themselves out of a situation that wasn’t very pretty at the halfway stage, which was the first prize, and then we obviously also wanted to make the top eight, which we should have done.

“We had one or two games towards the end where [we let ourselves down], and once we got safe, we perhaps took the foot off a little bit. Take a game like this as an example, we should be winning with the chances we had. They’re obviously happy; we’re not, but we’re happy to finish the season and try to build for the next.

“I’ve got lots of plans, but those things take time. It won’t all happen at once, I know that from an experience perspective, so we have to build the team slowly. There are players who will leave and players who will come in.

“We’ll take each of those cases on its individual merits and try to build the team from there. It is exciting because we can really have a fresh start now and make sure we’re never in the situation we were in this year again.”