Carling Knockout Cup replacing Telkom Knockout Cup: Khoza

The chairperson of the Premier Soccer League Irvin Khoza has announced Black Label as the new sponsor to replace the defunct Telkom Knockout Cup. Telkom’s association with the competition came to an end two years ago when it did not renew its contract with the PSL.

The new competition, which will kick off next year, will be known as the Carling Knockout Cup.

“The name of the sponsorship will be Carling Knockout Cup but in the element of that sponsorship, we will have Carling Eleven which will be played on a different date altogether not far from October- November. We have decided that the element of Carling Eleven will play on that day; the tournament will play in October- November with the last game playing on 16 December. We have agreed that there will be a bit of innovation that goes with it.”

The Carling Knockout Cup will be held on an annual basis in October and November, kicking off in 2023.

There will also be an exhibition match which will see the winning team from the Carling Cup take on the fan-selected Carling Eleven in an all-star showcase of football skills.

Khoza says the Carling Eleven squad will comprise 23 players and a coach will be selected from the remaining 15 DSTV Premiership teams.

“From October to November will be all the 16 teams of the PSL and Carling XI will be the competition of the fans to select, what we have said is that the competition that is very interesting, that for the first time we will call it six plus 5, six will be premier league players and five will be Diski challenge players throughout the 90 minutes, how the coaches change is up to them but it must remain six plus five.” – Reporter by Vincent Sitsula