The best of Joburg versus the best of Tshwane in new pre-season cup
JOBURG – A new off-season trophy has been added to the football calendar of South Africa.
A new pre-season cup and soccer spectacle has been born and will feature a Johannesburg versus Tshwane derby on 21 July at the FNB Stadium.
Soweto Glamour Boys Kaizer Chiefs will go up against Tshwane side Mamelodi Sundowns in the newly launched Shell Helix Ultra Cup. which is a clash of the best of Joburg versus the best of Tshwane.
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The Shell Helix Ultra Cup marks the oil company’s first entry into the football arena and is the brainchild of Stadium Management SA boss Dr Jacques Grobbelaar.
Grobbelaar is seeking to boost revenue at the stadium to ensure that it remains self-funding as promised government funding has never materialised eight years on since the stadium was revamped for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
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The Sundowns and Chiefs clash will be the first of two matches. The other game will be between two as yet unnamed sides in September. Grobbelaar said negotiations with those teams had not been concluded and the final between the winners of the two games would be sometime in November.
Speaking at the launch, Grobbelaar described the launch of the Ultra Cup as history-making as it would be the first time that Shell had entered the football arena and a first for Stadium Management SA to hold a soccer spectacle of its own.
“This will be an annual pre-season clash as we have signed a three-year deal with Shell with the option to extend on the expiry date and the SABC will be the broadcast partner,” he said.
Grobbelaar was also quick to point out that this cup was by no means a replacement of the Carling Black Label Cup, which had been put on ice for now.
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“The Carling Cup will be back next year as sponsors SAB wanted the time to deal with requirements and build-up to yet another of their sponsorship projects in the Fifa World Cup in Russia, hence they put the Carling Cup on ice for this year. It will return next year,” he assured.
Shell chairperson Hloniphizwe Mtolo said, “There are many things that still divide us in this country but soccer is a unifier hence we have decided to play ball in nation building and be a force for good. I am sure we will not have to find a reason not to extend this partnership with Stadium Management SA.”
