Andrew
Sports Reporter
REIGNING champions FC Platinum have retained their title to become kings of local football again after second-placed Dynamos fell 1-0 to Bulawayo City in yesterday’s Castle Lager Premier Soccer League encounter in Bulawayo.
It is a record-equalling feat, as the platinum miners, who now have an unassailable 67 points, join Highlanders and Dynamos as the only clubs to have won four consecutive PSL titles.
The champions will play CAPS today at the National Sports Stadium.
Interestingly, in 2019, Norman Mapeza’s men won the title at the giant stadium after edging Makepekepe 1-0 on the last day of the season to bag their third straight championship.
During that campaign, they had been left under the tutelage of Lizwe Sweswe after Mapeza had left for Chippa United in South Africa.
Mapeza bounced back in November 2020, but football, as other sporting disciplines, had been indefinitely suspended owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
When football resumed in 2021, the Premier Soccer League chiefs opted to restart action with the Chibuku Super Cup.
And Mapeza, whose coaching profile has been growing each year, bagged his second Chibuku Super Cup title after his side edged rivals Ngezi Platinum Stars on penalties.
He has now bagged his third championship title with FC Platinum and the fourth of his coaching career.
His maiden championship came in 2008 with the now-defunct Monomotapa.
Mapeza then added two more titles with FC Platinum by guiding them to successes in 2017 and 2018.
The miners have also equalled Dynamos and Highlanders’ run of four straight titles.
Bosso achieved the feat from 1999 to 2002, while DeMbare were unstoppable between 2011 and 2014.
However, Mapeza would have to wait a little longer before he can match the record set by Kalisto Pasuwa, who blazed the trail with Dynamos by winning four successive titles between 2011 and 2014.
But he has since surpassed Sunday Chidzambwa in terms of PSL titles.
The legendary Chidzambwa has three PSL championships won with Dynamos in 1994, 1995 and 1997.
Rahman Gumbo won two titles with Highlanders, in 1999 and 2000.
The late Briton, Eddie May, also won two championships with Bosso in 2001 and 2002, and remains the only foreign gaffer to claim the local Premiership title.
Also in with a double is Charles Mhlauri, whose CAPS United team claimed back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005.
Veteran Joey Antipas similarly has a double, having clinched the championship with Motor Action in 2010 and Chicken Inn in 2015.
Barry Daka (Highlanders, 1993), Steve Kwashi (CAPS United, 1996), Luke Masomere (Amazulu, 2003), Methembe Ndlovu (Highlanders, 2006), David Mandigora (Dynamos, 2007), Moses Chunga (Gunners, 2009), Lloyd Chitembwe (CAPS United, 2016) and Lizwe Sweswe (FC Platinum, 2019) are the other PSL championship-winning coaches.
FC Platinum are the only team from outside Harare and Bulawayo to win at least two consecutive PSL titles.
Unlike the Zvishavane-based team, Makepekepe have faced all sorts of problems this season and are still not safe from the dreaded chop.
CAPS United have 37 points from 30 matches and are a massive 30 points behind the platinum miners.
Their season has been dominated by off-the-field troubles, with player unrest the order of the day at the 2016 champions.
Mapeza sympathises with Chitembwe, his former teammate at Darryn T.
“I feel sorry for him at the end of the day,” said Mapeza.
“But he is someone I grew up with; I know he is someone who is very passionate about football. He is someone who wants to succeed in whatever he does in terms of football, so I salute him because he has had difficult times at CAPS.”
With 67 points going into the last four rounds of the season, FC Platinum have a mathematical chance of equalling another record.
CAPS United, who garnered 79 points on their way to the championship in 2004, still hold the record for the most points raked in, in a season.
FC Platinum can achieve that feat if they win their remaining four matches.
The side’s central defender, Gift Bello, has also now equalled Devon Chafa’s record of seven PSL titles.
Chafa won four with Dynamos, one with CAPS United and two with FC Platinum.
Bello won three championships with Dynamos between 2011 and 2013 before another amazing run with FC Platinum.
CAPS United striker William Manondo is also chasing his own target.
With 15 goals, he needs five more to breach the 20-goal mark.
Not since Norman Maroto banged in 22 for Gunners in 2010 has a PSL player reached 20 goals.
Online Reporter