Teams that have booked places in the much-awaited SAB League provincial playoffs are gearing up for the annual event.

This follows a statement by the league co-ordinator, Mr Patrick Seema, earlier this week, in which it was confirmed that the playoffs will at long last be staged at the Jane Furse Stadium in Sekhukhune this weekend. The two-day event was postponed several times during the past three months. According to Mr Seema, the postponements were influenced by the pending cases involving teams from the Capricorn and Waterberg Districts.

According to the spokesperson of Joe’s Express, Mr Edwin “Cafu” Ramphabana, the postponements had affected their preparations for the playoffs to a great extent. He indicated, however, that they were ready to represent the district in a dignified manner.

The playoffs were initially scheduled for the weekend of 29 and 30 June, but were rescheduled to the weekend of 20 and 21 July. The event was postponed until further notice until an announcement about the new date was made early this week.

Five teams from the five districts will fight for the two Safa Second Division places. The top two teams at the end of the playoffs will be promoted to the SAFA second division, better known as the Vodacom League.

Vhembe District will be represented by Joe’s Express FC at the annual event. The teams from the other districts who made it to the provincial playoffs are: Winners Park (Mopani), Masokolara FC (Sekhukhune), Ocean Birds (Waterberg) and Molemole Academy (Capricorn). Each team will play four matches in a round-robin format over a period of two days.

Joe’s Express booked a place in the provincial playoffs after emerging as the overall champions in the regional promotional playoffs which were staged four months ago. Vhembe District was represented by Tshifhire Northern Brothers during a similar event which was hosted by Vhembe District last year.