Abstract Twenty‐four simple sequence repeat markers were developed for Phakopsora pachyrhizi , a fungal pathogen of soybean ( Glycine max ) and other legumes. All 24 of the loci were evaluated on 28 isolates of P. pachyrhizi . Twenty‐one loci were polymorphic, with allelic diversity ranging from two to eight alleles, and null alleles were observed for eight of the 24 loci. A preliminary screen with the closely related species, P. meibomiae , indicated that these primer pairs are specific to P. pachyrhizi .