THE 2015 edition of the Net One-sponsored One Wallet Cup is in limbo as there is no confirmation of the top eight football competition with just six games of the season to go from either the backers or the Premier Soccer League.
PSL chief executive Kennedy Ndebele referred questions to Net One, whose public relations manager John Nyashanu said the competition would go ahead in November.
Sources said PSL chairman Twine Phiri was now working behind the scenes with senior Net One management to ensure that the tournament goes ahead before the end of the season.
Phiri has close links to NetOne after the State-owned company sponsored his team Caps United in the Premiership a decade ago.
Teams, sources added, have been told to prepare for the end of season tourney.
“We were advised by our CEO that the tournament will still go ahead and we must be ready when it’s announced because it could be a hectic November and December for us,” a club source said.
The Chibuku Super Cup final takes place on October 31 and by then there will just be three league matches left.
This might mean that, if an agreement has been reached, the quarterfinals would take place on the second week of November, the semi-finals in the third week and the final in the second week of December.
In between, the league would have to be completed to enable the winners of the league title and the Chibuku Super Cup to meet the Confederation of African Football (Caf) deadlines of November 30 for the registration of their teams for the Champions League and the Confederation Cup respectively.
The One Wallet Cup is for the teams that finished in the top eight in 2014 and was scheduled to take place before the Chibuku Super Cup.
Triangle are the defending champions after stunning Dynamos on penalties in the final at the National Sports Stadium.
Teams that qualified for this year’s event are Dynamos, ZPC Kariba, Highlanders, Caps United, How Mine, Chicken Inn, FC Platinum and Hwange. Triangle finished 9th last season.
The PSL and NetOne sealed a three-year deal last year, valued at $500,000 for the tournament, although it was said be renewable each year.
Winners of the competition received $80,000, runners up $50,000 while the two semi-finalists got $30,000 and the teams that got knocked out of the quarterfinals took home $20,000.Advertisement