The 2019 ABC Motsepe League National Play-offs will be played in Cape Town from 4 – 9 June.
The draw was conducted on Monday (20 May 2019) at SAFA House in Johannesburg, and was attended by the President of the South African Football Association (SAFA) Dr Danny Jordaan, as well as Dr Rejoice Simelane, a board member of the Motsepe Foundation.
Nine provincial winners will battle it out for the right to be called Champ of Champs – and the finalists will gain automatic promotion to the National First Division (NFD).
The gold medallists will walk away with a whopping one million rand, with the runners up pocketing half of that – 500-thousand rand.
The ABC Motsepe league has produced giant-killing clubs like Highlands Park, Baroka FC and Chippa United, who are all holding their own in the PSL – something the SAFA President says makes the junior league competitive.
“The Motsepe injection has brought a huge competitive edge within the NFD League, and the impact has been very phenomenal. There has been a new league of life in the organised league and we would sincerely like to thank Patrice Motsepe and the Motsepe Foundation, without whom perhaps we would not be having this league – this is a very huge contribution by the Motsepe Family and they need to be applauded for being part of football development in our country,” said Dr Jordaan.
Speaking on behalf of Patrice Motsepe, Dr Simelane was thankful to SAFA for the league and the teams for being able to participate.
“We have travelled a long journey with SAFA and it has borne some fruit, which is pleasing to all football lovers, especially our President Patrice Motsepe. He has asked me to convey the best wishes to all the teams that will be taking part in the tournament,” said Dr Simelane.
The nine teams that will be in tournament are: Acornbush United (Mpumalanga), Summerfield Dynamos (KZN), Steenberg United (Western Cape) and Hungry Lions (Northern Cape). The winners for the remaining four provinces – Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Gauteng and North West – are still to be decided, but the matters will be finalised before kickoff of the play-offs.
The group stage matches will be played at Erica Park, Belhar, with the final scheduled for the Athlone Stadium on Sunday, 9 June.
The top three will qualify for the semi-ffinals, and will be joined by the best second placed team.
Last year the tournament was won by Maccabi, with TS Sporting finishing second. Both are still in the NFD and completed their first season in positions 11 and 9 respectively.
