The 16th edition of the annual Selati Cup scheduled for 2025 is set to be much better and well organised in terms of security and discipline among all the participating teams.
This annual soccer tournament, proudly sponsored by the RCL Foods, has been at the centre of development of the beautiful game in the Nkomazi subregion for the past 15 years.
A brainchild of this giant sugar producing company and endorsed by the South African Football Association’s regional structures, the Selati Cup was started way before the country hosted the Soccer World Cup in 2010, and has since its inception seen a number of notable youngsters from this subregion signing lucrative contracts with Premier Soccer League teams.
Speaking exclusively to this publication on the sidelines of the Selati Cup prize-giving in Malalane, the tourney’s local organising committee (LOC) secretary, Kenneth Phiri, said they are ready for the 16th instalment of the Selati Cup, which is scheduled to start in March.
“After today’s handover of trophies to the finalists, since we didn’t have an outright winner, we will go to a post-mortem session to understand the root cause of the challenges we faced, and from there we will need to come up with ideas on how best we can resolve such conflicts going forward without disturbing the smooth flow of the tournament. The bigger picture with this session is to come up with fresh ideas and means to tighten the screws and have a stronger DC [disciplinary committee] so that should there be a disciplinary matter, then we know we have a stronger DC that is capable and capacitated to rule over matters without fear or favour,” said Phiri.
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“So, to answer your question, yes, we are ready for next year. We hope that teams and soccer supporters can develop the culture of accepting defeat and refrain from interrupting the smooth flow of the tournament, because this soccer tournament is for them and it is only in their hands to protect it and take it to the next level.”
This publication has reliably learnt that there is interest from the country’s leading television channels to televise the games, especially the last eight, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.
This, according to local soccer commentators, could mean great spin-offs for this subregion. “It would be great to have some of the games either recorded or televised live on TV, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon until our local soccer supporters learn how to behave and accept the outcome of the games. But it would be a huge benefit for Nkomazi if the games could be televised,” said Sicelo Mkhwanazi, a Nkomazi-based soccer analyst.
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The Nkomazi communities and the Selati Cup recently bade farewell to RCL Foods’ longest-serving managing director, Derek van Niekerk, who has been a true champion and ambassador for the Selati Cup and the Nkomazi community at large.
