Although they had missed promotion to the ABC Motsepe League by a whisker, Madridtas Football will be campaigning in the ABC Motsepe League when the activities for the new season start in three months' time.

According to the managing director of the team, Mr Ndivhuwo “DJ” Nthai, they had successfully purchased the ABC Motsepe League franchise from the Tzaneen-based side, Nkowankowa Barcelona. He said that the deal was the final product of closed-door negotiations with the owners of Barcelona.

He stated that after missing promotion through the play-offs at the Oscar Mphetha Stadium in Polokwane two weeks ago, he felt that he should do something for the team’s enthusiastic supporters, who had been behind the team through thick and thin. “Our team had the biggest number of supporters at the promotional play-off tournament in Polokwane and it was painful for me to see them coming back home with tears in their eyes,” he said.

He added that buying a franchise was his token of appreciation to the fans for their loyalty. According to him they had already started with preparations for the new season. Nthai said that their intention was to use Tshifudi Stadium as their home ground, depending on their negotiations with the Thulamela Municipality.

According to him, they wanted to persuade the municipality to provide a security fence around the pitch urgently as that was one of the requirements before the stadium could be approved as a venue to host ABC Motsepe League matches.

“If Tshifudi Stadium does not meet the minimum requirements as required by Safa, we will be forced to use Makwarela or Makhuvha Stadium as our home ground,” he said. The Madridtas deal brings the number of ABC Motsepe League clubs in the Vhembe District to three. Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) bought the status from Bilika All Stars last week (See a report elsewhere in the paper.)

The provincial secretary of the league, Mr Patrick Seema, confirmed both Madridtas and Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila’s transactions, saying there were three clubs from Vhembe District in the league at the moment, including Joe Maweja FC.