Carlsberg Cup teams trimmed
The 2013 edition of the K20 million Carlsberg Cup gets underway on May 18 with the number of teams reduced and some innovations introduced, FAM announced on Monday.
This year’s cup excludes regional leagues’Division One sides while maintaining Premier Division and Super League clubs, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) competitions officer Gomezgani Zakazaka said on Monday.
“Division One teams have been excluded due to budget constraints as well as the tightness of the 2013 football calendar,” Zakazaka wrote in a statement to the media following a press briefing FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda.
“There is a new award called Carlsberg Discovery pegged at K100 000 (about $420). This award will go to a young unknown player who will do wonders in the tournament,” says Zakazaka.
Registration runs between May 6 and 13. Premier Division teams will pay K7 500 (about $17) whereas Super League teams will pay K15 000 (about 435) as registration fees.
The competition will comprise Phase I for Premier Division clubs whose draw is set for May 14, followed by a kick-off four days later.
The tournament is expected to end on June 19. In this phase, games will go straight into penalty shoot-outs should teams draw in regulation time.
Phase II will see nine teams from the regional leagues joining their 15 Super League counterparts on July 15 for the national draw.
Top eight teams from last season’s Super League standings will be seeded while the remaining seven will join the nine regional league teams to make the national phase preliminary round of 16.
Eight winners from that phase will join the seeded eight Super League teams for the final round of 16 to be played during the weekend of August 17/18.
Quarter-finals are expected to be played during the weekend of August 31 and September 1 followed by semi-finals the following weekend, then finals on September 14.
Sponsorship and prize breakdown remain unchanged, with K7 million (about $17 000) for champions, K3 million (about $7 142) for runners-up and K1 million (about $2 380) for semi-finalists. The sponsors will also dress the teams from the quarter-finals.
Top goalscorer will pocket K100 000 with each game’s man-of-the-match from the quarter-finals pocketing K10 000 (about $23).
