The South African Football Association has set aside the whole of next week for the ABC Motsepe League national play-offs. The annual event will be staged at two stadiums, Dr P Molemela and Kaizer Sebothelo, in Bloemfontein. The league champions from the nine provinces will battle it out for promotion to the National First Division League.

The nine teams have been divided into two groups. The matches will be played in a round-robin format. The top teams in the groups will be promoted to the National First Division.

Group A comprises five teams, viz. Orbit College FC, Steenberg United, Kings United, Tornado FC and Apollo XI, while teams that belong to group B are Magezi FC, Morester Jeug, Manco Milano and JDR Stars.

During an interview with the head coach for Magezi FC before they left for Bloemfontein yesterday (Thursday), Mr Joel Mongalo said they were ready to absorb the play-off heat. He stated that they had decided to leave for Bloemfontein four days before the kick-off date in order for them to acclimatize with the weather in the Free State.

He stated that when he had joined the club at the beginning of the season, he had been given two mandates. According to him, two of his contractual obligations were to get the team to qualify for the Nedbank Cup last-32 stage and to promote the team to the National First Division. “I have fulfilled the first obligation as Magezi played in the last-16 stage, and now the last hurdle is to make sure the team is promoted next week,” said Mongalo.

Magezi will play their first match against Morester Jeug at the Kaizer Sebothelo Stadium next Wednesday (15 June). They will meet Manco Milano at the same venue the following day. Their last fixture is against JDR Stars on Friday. The winners in the two groups will meet in the final at the Dr P Molemela Stadium on Sunday.