19 Jan 2023

VTM FC and Jwaneng Young Stars will tomorrow meet at Lekidi Football Centre in an unusual Orange FA Cup fixture.

According to a statement from the Botswana Football Association (BFA), the play off was necessitated by Article 2 of the Orange FA Cup play rules and regulations, which dictates that each BFA block must have four regional champion clubs participating.

The statement says as the southern block has five regional champions, the BFA, through the FA Cup organising committee, should arrange for a toss or draw to eliminate the fifth club, through a play off.

“A toss was arranged and conducted on January 13 at Lekidi where all the five concerned teams were in attendance. Naughty Boys, Mochudi United, UB Hawks all picked a bye, while Jwaneng Young Stars and VTM FC picked the play offs spot,” the statement says.

The two will now face each other with the winner joining the other three block teams.

Both teams ply their trade in the first division south league and therefore will go into the game with a feeling of equal standings.

VTM will be motivated by the good performance they put in their last league game, where they clobbered struggling Black Rangers of Tsabong 5-1, while Young Stars will be willing to dust off their last 0-1 league loss to Mochudi Centre Chiefs.

If the first division league log standings were to go by, then VTM would have an upper hand as they currently occupy position five, after week eight of play, while Young Stars sit at position eight.

The winner will join Naughty Boys, Mochudi United and UB Hawks to represent the Southern Block in Orange FA Cup, whose full details have not yet been finalised. The game kicks off at 4pm Efforts to get comments from the two teams’ officials failed as their numbers did not go through. ENDS