Africa-Press – Eswatini. Four years on, the country’s football can heave a sigh of relief as the rich Ingwenyama Cup is getting underway in the 2023/24 domestic football calendar season.
His Majesty’s Correctional Services side Green Mamba were the last champions in March 2020 after they beat Mbabane Highlanders 2-0 in a packed to the rafters Somhlolo National Stadium. Among the over 14 000 crowd was former South Africa President Jacob Zuma, who was the guest to King Mswati III on the day. This was the last domestic top flight football match in the country’s soccer Mecca, as government then banned all sporting activities due to COVID-19 regulations. Since then, the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) lost its sponsors in EswatiniBank (the prestigious EswatiniBank Cup) and Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications (EPTC) (Charity Cup).
However, the Ingwenyama Cup, which was backed by the Sincephetelo Motor Vehicle Accidents Fund (SMVAF) and returns under same.
During the last edition, the prize money for the champions was E1.3 million, but after the tournament took a break which was further prolonged by the political unrest, alongside with the Charity Cup and EswatiniBank Cup, which both vanished, clubs were left with only the MTN Premier League to play for and the revenue has been a far cry. With the return of this major tournament, which also blends with cultural competitions, the clubs can at least expect better returns in terms of gate collections and prizes, especially the champions. The prize in Ingwenyama Cup was already at E1.3m in 2020, and can be expected to improve when it finally gets launched at a date yet to be announced.
Withdrew
“It must be clarified that SMVAF never withdrew the Ingwenyama Cup from the PLE, but they have always been our sponsors. The only reason we haven’t had the tournament was because they were still monitoring the political atmosphere since the unrest in 2021. It has calmed down and we hope to play more tournaments with new ones also to be announced soon,” said an impeccable source. PLE Chairperson Mark Carmichael also attested to this, saying they were pleased to know that the Ingwenyama Cup will be part of their football calendar in the upcoming 2023/24 season. He also mentioned the possibility of new tournaments.
“We are going to hold a press conference where we will be unpacking to the media and the public what they can expect and what not to expect. Fans have been asking themselves over the past seasons about the few tournaments we had,” the chairperson said. He neither confirmed nor denied EswatiniBank Cup. Notably, this tournament was a tripartite one as it involved the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) as well.
Its winners used to get a ticket to represent the country in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) interclub competition, the TotalEnergies Confederation Cup.
In its absence, league runners-up had been earning the ticket. Carmichael also expressed their effort to lure sponsors to invest in local football but lamented the aftermath effects of COVID-19, which he said took so long for some companies to recover. He then reminded fans to always make stadiums ‘safe and open to everybody.’However, our sources revealed that there was a huge possibility for the EswatiniBank to also re-commit as their tournament was the flagship of the country’s football, which had unequalled excitement for both fans and clubs.
Prizes
The prizes there were also good as the champions took home nothing less than E1 million. The last edition did not kick off as government banned sports just a day before the quarter-finals took place on March 2020 when in South Africa the Nedbank Cup played same weekend and went to finish but without fans in stadiums. Local teams also played without fans for almost two seasons due to COVID-19 before a limited 500 number of fans were allowed but only COVID-19 vaccinated.
Government later removed the restrictions and allowed things to return to normal as the situation has almost returned to normal. Efforts to get comments from some of the big teams were in vain as most officials said until they officially got it from the PLE; they could not involve themselves at this stage as all they saw was a Facebook post. Others said as much as they had some information to the affirmative, it was not time yet but they were definitely looking forward to its return and that of the EswatiniBank Cup, the Trade Fair and new tournaments like a Top 8. The Ingwenyama Cup will currently be the second official Cup tournament under the PLE, otherwise a third when including the annual Bible Society Mayoral Cup to play in early August.
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