Standard Bank Knockout Trophy voting gets overwhelming response

There is an overwhelming response in the Standard Bank Knockout Trophy voting, whereby the bank has had to send additional ballot boxes at some of its branches.

A visit by The Nation to the Ginnery Corner branch yesterday showed that many customers, who were making various transactions, also took time to vote for teams of their choice to determine the four teams that will compete in the preliminaries to identify the two teams that will join the top six.

One of the customers, Samuel Zgambo, a Chilomoni Township resident, said his team is already in the top six, but he voted for Azam Tigers to ensure an exciting competition,.

Standard Bank marketing manager Chimwemwe Matonga said they are happy with the response from customers.

“There has been a good response. In some branches, we have had to send additional boxes,” said Matonga.

However, unlike the past system whereby the public was updated on the progress of the voting, this time around, it is being kept under wraps.

“We felt that if we open the boxes, it can disrupt the process. So, we will wait until Thursday, when voting is expected to end, then we will announce the results, probably on Friday,” he said.

The top six teams that are guaranteed participation are defending champions Mighty Wanderers, Silver Strikers, Big Bullets, Blantyre United, Red Lions and Civo United.

The bank has increased the sponsorship for this year from K20 million (US$55, 096) to K25 million(US$68, 870) and the champions will cart home K8 million (US$22,038) while runners-up will get K4 million (US$11, 019).