The first piece of silverware available this season is the MTN8, with the quarterfinals scheduled for the weekend of August 27-28.
It is a competition steeped in history and while Mamelodi Sundowns are the defending champions and no doubt favourites again this term, they have traditionally not fared well over the years. We round up the numbers on the 2022 MTN8.
1 – Orlando Pirates won the first ever final as they edged Kaizer Chiefs 3-2, which included a Buccaneers debut for future Bafana Bafana coach Ephraim ‘Shakes’ Mashaba. It was Pirates’ first win over Chiefs in official competition.
1 – SuperSport United are the only team to appear in every season of the MTN8 competition that was played since the launch of the PSL in the 1996/97 campaign.
2 – Cape Town City and AmaZulu will meet in the MTN8 quarterfinals for the second year in a row. City won 2-1 in Durban at the start of last season.
2 – Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates are the only sides to retain the top eight trophy. Chiefs managed it in 1981-1982 and 1991-1992. Pirates managed it in 2010-2011. They did also win the trophy in 1996 and 2000, when there were no tournaments in between.
2 – Stellenbosch FC take on Kaizer Chiefs in their quarterfinals this year, They beat the AmaKhosi 1-0 on both leagues games last season.
2 – Royal AM host Orlando Pirates in their quarterfinal. Both meetings between the teams last season ended in draws, including a thrilling 2-2 stalemate in Durban.
3 – Three clubs in this year’s MTN8 will be going for their first title in the competition – AmaZulu, Royal AM and Stellenbosch FC. The latter two are both making their debut in the competition.
3 – Cape Town City have appeared in three of the last five MTn8 finals, winning in 2018, but losing in 2017 and 2021. All three finals were against Tshwane opposition, the first two versus SuperSport United and the last Mamelodi Sundowns.
3 – There have been three cup final hat tricks in the competition’s history – Ace Ntsoelengoe for Chiefs against AmaZulu in 1976, Marks Maponyane for Chiefs against Rangers in 1987 and Phil Masinga for Jomo Cosmos against Chiefs in 1991, when despite his three goals he still finished on the losing side.
5 – Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Denis Onyango remarkably saved five Cape Town City penalties in a row in the shoot-out that followed the 2021 final. His team eventually won 3-2 on penalties as the Ugandan gloveman proved the hero.
5 – The most goals scored by a player in a top eight match is five by David Dolo for Moroka Swallows as they overwhelmed Winter Roses 11-1 in the 1975 first round.
8 – Quarterfinal opponents Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United have met eight times before in the MTN8. SuperSport actually hold the edge with four wins to Sundowns’ three, and a single draw. They last met in 2019 when Matsatsantsa claimed the two-legged semifinal 3-1 on aggregate.
8 – Eight finals have gone to extra-time, three involving Cape Town City (one win, two losses), two Kaizer Chiefs (both won), Orlando Pirates (one win, one loss), SuperSport United (one win, one loss) and Mamelodi Sundowns (one win). The other was between Jomo Cosmos and Moroka Swallows, and was won 3-2 by Ezenkosi, the only time penalties were not needed.
11 – The record team score in the MTN8 competition is that 11-1 win for Moroka Swallows over amateurs Winter Roses in the expanded edition in 1975.
14 – Mamelodi Sundowns ended a 14 year wait for the MTn8 title when they beat Cape Town City on penalties last season. Despite all their other trophy success, their previous title had come in 2007.
15 – The number of times Kaizer Chiefs have won the top eight competition, the most of any team. Their wins have come from 21 final appearances. Next on the lost is Orlando Pirates (10) and then defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns (4).
30 – AmaZulu have now not won a major trophy since 1992, when they lifted the 1992 Coca-Cola Cup.
32 – There have not always been eight teams in the top eight competition. The league experimented with expanding the Cup and in 1975 there were 16 teams, in 1979 there were 17 and in 1976 there were 32!
40 – The number of title wins by teams from Gauteng in the previous 47 runnings of the competition. There have been three victories for the Western Cape (Santos, Ajax Cape Town and Cape Town City), and one each for the Free State (Bloemfontein Celtic), KwaZulu-Natal (Lamontville Golden Arrows), Mpumalanga (Witbank Aces) and North West (Platinum Stars)
8,000,000 - The winners of this year’s tournament will once again pocket R8-million, the richest prize money in South African knockout football. The other seven competing sides will take home R800,000, irrespective of where they finish.