The MTN8 gets underway this weekend with last season’s top finishers up against each other in the long-stablished, re-determined formula of a competition that is uniquely South African.
The top four finishers in the DStv Premiership of the previous season get home advantage and are paired with league champions taking on the eighth-placed finishers; the runners-up meeting No 7; third place against sixth and the fourth and fifth-placed finishers up against each other.
Here is SuperSport.com’s exclusive look at this season’s protagonists and the ties coming up at the weekend:
SATURDAY
Mamelodi Sundowns v Moroka Swallows, Lucas Moripe Stadium, 3pm (live on SuperSport)
Sundowns first tasted success in the old Top Eight Cup before the start of the Premier Soccer League, winning in 1988 when they beat neighbours Arcadia in a final replay after they were tied on aggregate over two legs. They won again in 1990, but then followed a 17-year hiatus before success in 2007 and another lengthy wait before their triumph in the all-conquering 2021-22 season. It is fair to say that given all their other trophy success, this is a competition that has largely eluded them. In the PSL era, they have only missed out on qualifying for the competition four times in the last 23 years since it was re-introduced after a short hiatus. Last season they lost in the semifinal to Orlando Pirates with their 3-0 home reversal precipitating a change in the coaching structure and the appointment of Rulani Mokwena as solo head coach.
SUNDOWNS IN THE MTN8 OVER THE LAST DECADE
2022/23: Semifinals
2021/22: Winners
2020/21: Quarterfinals
2019/20: Semifinals
2018/19: Semifinals
2017/18: Quarterfinals
2016/17: Runners-up
2015/16: Quarterfinals
2014/15: Quarterfinals
2013/14: Did not qualify
Swallows last won the MTN8 in 2012, beating SuperSport United 2-1 in the final with Bennett Chenene providing the winner. It was the third overall success for the Birds and came 23 years after their previous triumph in 1979. They were also winners in 1975 when the competition was played at the end of the season rather than at the start, and they overcame Kaizer Chiefs 5-2 on aggregate over two legs. This year is the second time in the last three years that the club compete again in the tournament after a decade-long hiatus. Cape Town City beat them 4-0 on aggregate in the 2021 semifinal. Swallows were relegated in 2015 and tumbled down quickly to the amateur ranks. They were revived again when the franchise of Maccabi FC was bought in 2019 by Johannesburg businessman David Mogashoa.
SWALLOWS IN THE MTN8 OVER THE LAST DECADE
2022/23: Did not qualify
2021/22: Semifinals
2020/21: Did not qualify
2019/20: Did not qualify
2018/19: Did not qualify
2017/18: Did not qualify
2016/17: Did not qualify
2015/16: Did not qualify
2014/15: Did not qualify
2013/14: Did not qualify
SATURDAY
Orlando Pirates v Sekhukhune United, Orlando Stadium, 6pm (live on SuperSport)
Pirates are the holders after beating AmaZulu in last year’s final and are the second most successful club in the more than 50-year history of the competition, first winning in 1972. They have had 10 triumphs since, half of them coming since the Top Eight was re-introduced to the PSL calendar in 2000. Pirates have reached eight finals in the last 23 seasons, more than any club and since MTN took over sponsorship in 2008 have proven the most successful. Last season’s triumph was the first of two knockout trophies they took in the campaign and marked a successful start to the coaching tenure of the Spaniard Jose Riveiro.
PIRATES IN THE MTN8 OVER THE LAST DECADE
2022/23: Winners
2021/22: Quarterfinals
2020/21: Winners
2019/20: Quarterfinals
2018/19: Quarterfinals
2017/18: Did not qualify
2016/17: Quarterfinals
2015/16: Quarterfinals
2014/15: Runners-up
2013/14: Runners-up
Sekhukhune will compete in the MTN8 for the first time after a seventh-place finish in only their second top-flight season. They lost only one of their last eight league games to ensure they ended inside the top eight and won the right to chase the R8-million jackpot. In their first season they were up among the frontrunners after winning promotion from then NFD but crashed in the second half of the campaign and were lucky to avoid relegation. It was the appointment of Brandon Truter, who the previous season had qualified Swallows for the top eight, that made the difference.
SEKHUKHUNE IN THE MTN8 OVER THE LAST DECADE
2022/23: Did not qualify
SUNDAY
Cape Town City v Kaizer Chiefs, Athlone Stadium, 3pm (live on SuperSport)
City have never failed to qualify for the MTN8 since the club was established seven seasons ago for an enviable 100 per cent attendance record. Indeed, they reached the final in their second appearance and won the trophy in their third. They were also runners-up two years ago to Sundowns, losing in a heartbreaking penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. It was penalties, too, that saw them beat SuperSport United in the 2018 final. City’s best league was runners-up to Sundowns two seasons ago and their worst was the seventh place they took in 2021.
CAPE TOWN CITY IN THE MTN8 OVER THE LAST DECADE
2022/23: Quarterfinals
2021/22: Runners-up
2020/21: Quarterfinals
2019/20: Quarterfinals
2018/19: Winners
2017/18: Runners-up
2016/17: Semifinals
Chiefs might have been surpassed in the record books by Sundowns in most competitions but they remain the top eight kings. The club have a record 15 triumphs, stretching back to 1973 but it is closing on a decade since their last success in 2013. Chiefs, as all their detractors will tell you, have now gone eight seasons without a trophy. Their last MTN8 final appearance came under Steve Komphela just weeks after he took over as coach from Stuart Baxter but ended in defeat to Ajax Cape Town. Since then, they have exited in the quarterfinals on three occasions and been to the semifinals three times as well.
KAIZER CHIEFS IN THE MTN8 OVER THE LAST DECADE
2022/23: Semifinals
2021/22: Quarterfinals
2020/21: Semifinals
2019/20: Did not qualify
2018/19: Semifinals
2017/18: Quarterfinals
2016/17: Quarterfinals
2015/16: Runners-up
2014/15: Winners
2013/14: Semifinals
SUNDAY
SuperSport United v Stellenbosch, Polokwane, 6pm (live on SuperSport)
SuperSport have an amazing record in their league places and consistently qualifying for the top eight competition, making them perennial protagonists in the MTN8. SuperSport failed to finish in the top eight in three of the first four seasons after the Premier Soccer League was launched in 1996 but since the 2000/01 season have never finished outside the top eight, winning three league championships. They are also three-time winners of the MTN8 and have appeared in seven finals in all. That includes a run of three finals in a row between 2017 and 2019, where they won the first and third of those but lost to Cape Town City on penalties in the middle one.
SUPERSPORT UNITED IN THE MTN8 OVER THE LAST DECADE
2022/23: Quarterfinals
2021/22: Quarterfinals
2020/21: Semifinals
2019/20: Winners
2018/19: Runners-up
2017/18: Winners
2016/17: Quarterfinals
2015/16: Quarterfinals
2014/15: Quarterfinals
2013/14: Quarterfinals
Stellenbosch are playing in the MTN8 for the second season in a row having debuted in the last campaign. Their only previous outing in the competition was a harrowing experience for the club as their Danie Craven Stadium was trashed by Chiefs fans, exuberant after their side had survived a home onslaught and got through the quarterfinal tie on post-match penalties. Since then, all Stellenbosch home games against Chiefs have been moved to Cape Town. Stellenbosch were fourth in the 2021/22 season and in the last DStv Premiership campaign came sixth.
STELLENBOSCH IN THE MTN8 OVER THE LAST DECADE
2022/23: Quarterfinals
2021/22: Did not qualify
2020/21: Did not qualify
2019/20: Did not qualify
2018/19: Did not qualify