Gavin, Benni lock horns
WITS TAKE ON CAPE TOWN CITY, THEN IT’S UNITED, DOWNS McCarthy given his chance by Hunt many years ago.
Reigning champions Bidvest Wits and last season’s surprise package Cape Town City will kick off the new Absa Premiership campaign on Friday August 18 in a potentially sizzling opening encounter at the Bidvest Stadium.
The Premier Soccer League finally released its official 2017/18 fixture list yesterday, with a Tshwane derby between SuperSport United and Mamelodi Sundowns the standout encounter on Saturday August 19.
Kaizer Chiefs will start their season with a trip to Bloemfontein Celtic, while Milutin Sredojevic’s first match in his second spell as coach of Orlando Pirates will be at home to Dan Malesela’s Chippa United.
The first Premiership Soweto derby of the season has been set for October 28, when Chiefs will be the home side at FNB Stadium. The second-round match will be played on March 3.
The Wits-City match will see Clever Boys coach Gavin Hunt go up against Benni McCarthy, who took up his first head coach position at City ahead of the new season. This is a friendship that goes back decades, as it was Hunt who gave McCarthy his chance as a 17-year-old striker at Seven Stars in Cape Town.
There was a delay in the PSL releasing the fixtures, partly caused by the decision by the Confederation of African Football to change the dates of the 2017 Caf Champions League and Caf Confederation Cup quarterfinals, which will feature Sundowns and SuperSport respectively.
The PSL were then waiting for broadcast rights holders SuperSport to ratify the fixture list, and the league finally released them yesterday, to go with the launch of
August 18 – Bidvest Wits v Cape Town City.
Aug 19 – Polokwane City v Baroka, SuperSport Utd v Sundowns, AmaZulu v Free State Stars, Orlando Pirates v Chippa Utd, Ajax CT v Golden Arrows.
Aug 20 – Platinum Stars v Maritzburg Utd, Bloemfontein Celtic v Kaizer Chiefs.
Aug 22 –Sundowns v Polokwane City, Chippa Utd v AmaZulu, Baroka v Pirates.
Aug 23 – FS Stars v Wits, Maritzburg Utd v Ajax CT, Golden Arrows v Bloem Celtic, Chiefs v SuperSport, CT City v Platinum Stars.
September 12 – AmaZulu v Maritzburg their new website.
Clubs should not have been too badly affected by the delay, however, as they were sent a provisional fixture list some time ago. Utd, FS Stars v Sundowns, Chippa Utd v Baroka, Polokwane City v Bloem Celtic, Pirates v Ajax CT.
Sep 13 – CT City v Chiefs, Wits v Arrows, SuperSport v Platinum Stars.
Sep 15 - Ajax CT v Polokwane City, Maritzburg Utd v Pirates.
Sep 16 – Baroka v FS Stars, Chiefs v Wits. Sep 17 – Arrows v AmaZulu. Sep 19 – Pirates v CT City, Ajax CT v Sundowns, Polokwane City v FS Stars.
Sep 20 – Platinum Stars v Arrows, AmaZulu v Wits, Bloem Celtic v Baroka, Maritzburg Utd v Chiefs, SuperSport v
Other key days include the MTN8 final (September 23), the Telkom Knockout final (December 2) and the Nedbank Cup final (May 19).