Ten PSL teams were drawn to face each other during Monday’s draw for the round of 32 matches as the countries premier knock out competition gets underway in three weeks time, and for the third time in its history it will have one of the countries major banking institutions as the main sponsor. Nedbank who assumed the mantle of sponsors for this competition from their industry rivals ABSA, have put the ball purely in the teams half as they have put down a collective prize purse of R19.3 million rands for the 32 participating clubs in the 2007 – 2008 PSL Nedbank Cup. The team crowned the winners on the 24th May will pick up a cheque of R6 million rands and will earn the right to play in the 2009 African Confederations Cup.

The Amakhosi will begin their quest to lift this coveted trophy and haul off the rich winnings that go with it, by hoping to over come the defending champions Ajax Cape Town in their opening game. Chiefs have been drawn at home to face the Urban Warriors in what is sure along with SuperSport United’s clash with Sundowns and Orlando Pirates visit to Santos one of the mouth watering encounters of the opening phase.

Captain no concern

Amakhosi striker and skipper in recent league matches against BidVest Wits and SuperSport Shaun Bartlett, is not too concerned with the fact that Chiefs will be facing the defending champions as well as the current league leaders in game one of the Nedbank Cup. The former Bafana captain while commenting to kaizerchiefs.com on the Nedbank Cup draw added, “this is a new competition, with a new trophy, new prize money and hopefully at the end there will be a new champion. The way the draw has been done if you successful in the opening round I think the foundations to going further would have been laid, as a minimum of five PSL teams will not be in the round of 16. This draw obviously makes our league meeting with them on the weekend more interesting, with a cup game soon after the league one we will have to wait and see how they approach the match on the weekend”.

The One

The Nedbank cup has a new slogan ‘Ke Yona’ meaning ‘the one’ from a Chiefs perspective that one would be Itumeleng Khune, as he rose his game and was the star of Chiefs Telkom Knock Out Cup success earlier in the season. Khune is now looking ahead to helping Chiefs pick up another piece of silver ware; he added “we showed that we love playing against the bigger teams in cup competitions as it brings out the best in us. Our team is very experienced in cup games and knowing that you have one chance or you gone in cup matches, usually gives us added drive to go further. Playing Ajax is not a problem for us a few seasons ago when we won this competition we opened up against SuperSport who were the defending Champions back then, we beat them and went all the way and won the tournament. Hopefully history will repeat itself”.

Nedbank Cup Round of 32 Fixtures

Mpumalanga Black Aces Vs Thanda Royal Zulu


Free State Stars Vs Platinum Stars


Amazulu Vs Young Ones FC


BidVest Wits Vs Winners Park FC


Yebo Yes United Vs FC AK


Inspection FC Vs Black Leopards


Kaizer Chiefs Vs Ajax Cape Town


Santos Vs Orlando Pirates


FC Cape Town Vs Durban Stars


Nathi Lions Vs N.W. Shining Stars


Golden Arrows Vs Jomo Cosmos FC


African Warriors Vs Moroka Swallows


Matatiel Professionals Vs Bloemfontein Young Tigers


IKAPA Sporting Vs Bloemfontein Celtic


SuperSport United Vs Mamelodi Sundowns


Peace Lovers FC Vs Vasco Da Gama

* Team placed first denotes home team, dates kick off times and venues to be confirmed

Nedbank Cup Round of 32 Match Schedule

Wednesday March 12


Friday March 14


Saturday March 15


Sunday March 16