This weekend, four regional champions go to war in Francistown for the promotional play-offs with a place in the Debswana First Division North up for grabs.
The Old Council Stadium and the Calendron Grounds will play host to three games each as: Makungulupeswa, Desert Buffaloes, Kazungula Young Fighters and City Kings look to finish their successful seasons on a high.
All four teams will play each other once in a league format spread out over two days (Saturday and Sunday).
The winners shall gain automatic promotion to the second tier of local football while the runners-up get a shot at redemption in a one-off match against Pilikwe FC, who finished behind Tsabothe in the Eastern Block play-offs.
Confident of a successful weekend of football, Chairman of Northern Block and Nhabe Regional Football, Norman Sebele, told The Voice Online they were ready and raring to go.
“Everything is in place. We’ve inspected the pitches and made sure they’re ready for tomorrow,” declared Sebele, adding they decided to host the tournament at two different venues so games could be played simultaneously to reduce the chances of match fixing.
“In the past, we had issues with match fixing where teams that had already been eliminated from the tournament sold their matches to promising teams, so we decided to have two venues,” he reasoned.
Sebele also voiced confidence in the officials assigned to take control of the games, adding they’ve never had any trouble with referees being bought in the past.
Entrance is charged at P20 per game.
FIXTURES
SATURDAY
Makungulupeswa vs City Kings – F/Town Council Stadium (9am)
Desert Buffaloes vs Kazungula Y Fighters – Calendron Grounds (9am)
Desert Buffaloes vs Makungulupeswa – Calendron Grounds (3pm)
Kazungula Y Fighters vs City Kings – F/Town Council Stadium (3pm)
SUNDAY
Makungulupeswa vs Kazungula Y Fighters – F/Town Council Stadium (9am)
City Kings vs Desert Buffaloes – Caledron Grounds (9am)
