• Charity Shield teams increased to four • Eagles promoted to premiership, Lancashire relegated • Eagles fly high as Lancashire stall • Chitembwe new CAPS United coach • PSL play-offs enter critical stage • Madinda Ndlovu unveiled as Highlanders coach • Lancashire lead play-offs mini-league • Chikwaikwai named Soccer Star of the Year • CAPS United survive, Monomotapa claim their prize • Monmomotapa clinch premiership title • Dynamos slash Monomotapa's lead with emphatic win • Monomotapa, Dynamos set up tantalising season finale • Monomotapa get in mood for big party • 2008 Premier Soccer League Fixtures

Posted to the web: 19/01/2009 02:56:45
RELEGATED CAPS FC have completed a take-over of premiership side Shooting Stars and named the new team CAPS United Football Club.

The decision to name the new club CAPS United Football Club sets the owners, CAPS Holdings, on a collision course with cup double winners CAPS United who are owned by Harare businessman Twine Phiri and Farai Jere.

CAPS FC and CAPS United were locked in a bruising legal battle over the ownership of the CAPS acronym. When CAPS FC were relegated at the end of last season, CAPS United appeared to have won the battle.

But with the latest move by CAPS Holdings who have adopted CAPS United’s green and white colours, the country’s football authorities may be forced to intervene.

Pharmaceutical company CAPS Holdings were originally the sponsors of CAPS United, one of the country’s biggest clubs. When the company went through financial difficulties in 2002, it decided to get rid of the football club and it was sold to Phiri, then a little known Harare businessman.

Although he struggled in the early days after taking over the club, Phiri remained determined to keep United as one of the top three clubs in the country after Dynamos and Highlanders.

His efforts were rewarded in 2004 and 2005 when they won back-to-back titles under coach, Charles Mhlauri.

Problems began for Phiri when CAPS Holdings decided to return to football and bought the Buymore franchise and renamed the club CAPS FC in 2005. Phiri’s CAPS United tried to stop the drugs company from using the name CAPS FC but they lost their case at the Supreme Court.

Joel Sengeredo, the owner of the now-disbanded Shooting Stars and a 40 percent equity holder in the new franchise, said CAPS Holdings’ legal advisers backed their decision to name the new club CAPS United Football Club.

"We have been advised by the CAPS Holdings board, who themselves were acting on the counsel of our lawyers, to name the new club born out of the merger of Shooting Stars and CAPS FC, CAPS United Football Club," said Sengeredo, who will be club president in the new entity.

"Accordingly we intend to register CAPS United Football Club with both Zifa and the Premier Soccer League on Monday. Registration of the new club with the relevant football authorities is naturally the first step in what will be a phased drive aimed at taking CAPS United Football Club to the higher echelons of Zimbabwean football.”

Just before CAPS FC were relegated in December, a club spokesman claimed they had been “victims of bad publicity” and accused referees of trying to get them relegated.

“Some people’s whole agenda this season was to see CAPS FC being relegated so that issue of the name will fall away,” Julius Chifokoyo said.

Although CAPS Holdings has successfully registered the acronym CAPS as a trademark for its sports and entertainment activities under the Trademarks Act, Jere insisted in a recent letter to ZIFA that Caps Holdings had no legal standing to bar his team from using the acronym CAPS.

Jere wrote: "The CAPS acronym in our CAPS United no longer represents the interests or branding related to CAPS Holdings but has evolved, since we took control of the franchise, to represent headgear as in ordinary caps rather than CAPS in relation to the company.

"Reference to headgear as caps has been in existence since time immemorial and it has become a common name used by anyone so interested, only a fool would like to patent it and prevent the world from using caps in reference to headgear.”

Jere’s letter was in response to a CAPS Holdings ultimatum for him and Phiri to stop using the acronym CAPS in their Premier Soccer League franchise with effect from the end of the 2008 season.

2008 Premier Soccer League Play-Offs:

TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	PTS
P - Eagles	5	4	1	0	12	5	13
Lancashire Steel	4	2	1	1	12	7	7
Shabanie Mine	4	2	0	2	6	9	6
Mwana Africa	5	0	0	5	4	14	0

2008 CBZ Premier Soccer League Top Goal Scorers:

23 GOALS: Evans Chikwaikwai (Njube Sundowns)
16 GOALS: Cuthberth Malajila (Highlanders)
15 GOALS: Edward Sadomba (Dynamos)
11 GOALS: Charles Chiutsa (Monomotapa)
9 GOALS: Douglas Zimbago (Highlanders)
8 GOALS: Daniel Zokoto (Monomotapa)
8 GOALS: Phillip Makanje (Lancashire Steel)
8 GOALS: Norman Maroto (Dynamos)
7 GOALS: Makai Kawashu (Monomotapa)
7 GOALS: Tendai Nyamadzawo (Lengthens)

2008 CBZ Premier Soccer League Final Standings:

TEAM		Played	Won	Drew	Lost	G/F	G/A	Points
1	C - Monomotapa	30	18	6	6	41	28	60
2	Dynamos	30	16	10	4	41	25	58
3	Njube Sundowns	30	15	3	12	42	36	48
4	Shooting Stars	30	12	8	10	37	26	44
5	Lengthens	30	11	8	11	37	41	41
6	Gunners	30	10	10	10	42	39	40
7	Highlanders	30	9	15	6	34	25	39
8	Kiglon	30	9	12	9	31	32	39
9	Underhill	30	9	11	10	38	44	38
10	Eastern Lions	30	9	11	10	24	27	38
11	Motor Action	30	11	4	15	32	42	37
12	CAPS United	30	8	12	10	35	32	36
13	P/O - Lancashire	30	10	6	14	37	45	36
14	R - Chapungu	30	9	7	14	31	32	34
15	R - Masvingo United	30	8	9	13	34	49	33
16*	R - CAPS FC	29	5	10	15	29	40	25
* Docked 3 points for using suspended player v Motor Action

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