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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
CASTLE Lager Premier Soccer League clubs should brace for a congested second half of the season, with three knockout tournaments set to be played in the next four months. With Zimbabwe set to play host to the Region Five Youth Games which will be held this December in Bulawayo, the PSL is hard-pressed to end their programme early so that they avail stadia in the City of Kings to the local organising committee.
Apparently, the Premiership chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele is fretting on how they are going to end their season on time.
According to a revised programme released on Thursday evening, clubs will participate in the NetOne One Wallet Cup whose quarter-finals are played this weekend with the semi-finals set for the last weekend of August.
A 16-tourney Chibuku Cup starts mid-August with its quarter-finals set to be played sometime in September.
The league is yet to come up with dates for the Mbada Diamonds Cup.
Next month, clubs that would have gone through to the semi-finals of the NetOne One Wallet Cup will play seven matches within six weeks, as the league has re-introduced midweek games to ease pressure.
Asked how they plan to manage their league and ensure that it ends on time for submission of their participants for the Caf competitions, Ndebele was frank and said, “Honestly I don’t know how we are going to do it. We really need divine intervention.”
The 2014 season is likely to end deep in December and with reports that sponsors for cup games prefer to have their games played on weekends, this means that nine weekends from October to December are required to fixture the final of the Sup8r Knockout tournament sponsored by NetOne, the last four and final of the Chibuku Cup as well as the entire Mbada Diamonds Cup tournament.
The league will also be required to make provisions for the five Castle Lager Premier Soccer League weeks.
“Clubs will have to make sacrifices and prepare to play midweek matches until the end of the season.
“We are happy that we are getting corporate partners to support our football and when we say clubs play midweek matches, that is meant to accommodate our corporate partners. It will be a congested yet interesting end of the second round and that is what clubs must brace for,” said Ndebele.
Premier Soccer league revised programme: – July 18 to September 21, 2014
July 2014
July 18-20, 2014 NetOne One Wallet Cup ¼ Finals
July 26-27, 2014 Castle Lager Premiership Matchday 16 (WK)
July 28-29, 2014 FC Barcelona coaching clinic
August 2014
August 2-3, 2014 Castle Lager Premiership Matchday 17(WK)
August 6-7, 2014 Castle Lager Premiership Matchday 18 (MW)
August 9-10, 2014 Castle Lager Premiership Matchday 19 (WK)
August 16-17, 2014 Chibuku Cup Round 1 (WK)
August 20-21, 2014 Castle Lager Premiership Matchday 20 (MW)
August 23-24, 2014 Castle Lager Premiership Matchday 21 (WK)
August 30-31, 2014 NetOne One Wallet Cup Semi- Finals (WK)
September 2014
September 3-4, 2014 Castle Lager Premiership Matchday 22 (MW)
September 6-7, 2014 Castle Lager Premiership Matchday 23 (WK)
September 12-14, 2014 Chibuku Cup ¼ Finals (WK)
September 17-18, 2014 Castle Lager Premiership Matchday 24 (MW)
September 20-21, 2014 Castle Lager Premiership Matchday 25 (WK)
Online Reporter