MTN8 final in Numbers

The MTN8 final will be played at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban on Saturday as Orlando Pirates tackle AmaZulu for the R8-million first prize. We round up the numbers ahead of the game.

1 – One of Pirates coach Jose Riveiro or AmaZulu tactician Romain Folz will claim a first piece of silverware in South African football. They both joined their respective clubs this season.

1 – Pirates have only conceded a single goal in this year’s MTN8 competition, managing to keep Mamelodi Sundowns scoreless over 180 minutes in the semifinals. They goal they let in was in a 2-1 victory over Royal AM in the quarterfinals.

1 – Only one team from KwaZulu-Natal has lifted the trophy before, which was Lamontville Golden Arrows in 2009 when they thumped Ajax Cape Town 6-0 – still a record score in any South African cup final.

2 – Pirates have won two and lost two MTN8 finals at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. They claimed victories over Moroka Swallows (2010) and Bloemfontein Celtic (2020) but lost to Platinum Stars (2013) and Kaizer Chiefs (2014).

2 – Only one player has more than two goals in this year’s MTN8 competition. Pirates’ Monnapule Saleng scored twice in the 3-0 semifinal, second leg victory over Mamelodi Sundowns. Fourteen players have found the back of the net in all.

3 – Three players have featured in every minute of the MTN8 campaign for AmaZulu – goalkeeper Veli Mothwa, Riaan Hanamub and Makhehlene Makhaula.

4 – Four players have featured in every minute of the campaign for Pirates – captain Innocent Maela, who is an injury doubt for the final, defenders Olisa Ndah and Nkosinathi Sibisi, and Miguel Timm.

6 – Pirates will be appearing in their sixth final since MTN took over sponsorship of the top eight in 2008. No other side has appeared in the decider as many times, with SuperSport United and Kaizer Chiefs having four each.

7 – Seven previous finals have gone to penalty shoot-outs, including two involving Pirates. They beat Moroka Swallows 4-3 on spot-kicks in 2010, but lost to Platinum Stars 3-1 in 2013. Three of the last five finals have needed to be decided by penalties.

10 – Pirates have won the top eight competition 10 times in its various guises, second on the all-time list only to Kaizer Chiefs (15). They have appeared in 16 finals in all.

28 – Saturday’s final is the first time in 28 years that Pirates and AmaZulu have met in the top eight competition. Pirates won their last clash in the third-place play-off in 1994, claiming a 2-1 victory. This will be their first final meeting in this competition, and first time they have clashed in any cup decider since 1974!

32 – AmaZulu tactician Romain Folz is just 32, making him the youngest coach to lead a team in a South African cup final in the modern era. He will be one year older than the first ever World Cup winning manager though! Alberto Suppici led Uruguay to the title in 1930 aged 31. In 2018, Julian Nagelsmann, then of TSG Hoffenheim, became the youngest coach in UEFA Champions League history at 31.

48 - This is the 48th instalment of the MTN8 competition since the first event was first staged in 1972. There have been some gaps down the years when it was not played.

69 – The teams have met on 69 previous occasions, with Pirates winning a little under half of those with 32 victories. AmaZulu have claimed victory on 11 occasions, the last of which was in 2013. There have also been 26 draws. Their last clash was just three weeks ago in the league as they played to a 1-1 draw in Soweto.

1976 – AmaZulu’s only previous top eight final was 46 years ago when they were well-beaten 8-2 on aggregate by Kaizer Chiefs.

7,200,000 – The difference in Rands between winning and losing on Saturday. The victorious club will take home R8-million and the runners-up R800,000.