9 May 2018– The South Africa Football Association (SAFA) has renewed their partnership with the Motsepe Foundation, who will continue to bankroll the ABC Motsepe League for a further five years.

The announcement was made at SAFA House on Wednesday, 9 May 2018 by Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe, the Deputy Chairperson and CEO of the Motsepe Foundation, on behalf of Patrice Motsepe, who is the chairperson of the organisation.

This was at the draw of the 2018 ABC Motsepe League National Play-Offs.

The week-long tournament will be held at Turfloop University Fields in Polokwane, Limpopo from 4-9 June 2018.

Apart from a guaranteed whopping R1 million in prize money for the winners, the victorious side will also gain promotion into the National First Division (NFD) – the winners will receive directly an amount of eight hundred thousand rand (R800 000.00), with an additional two hundred thousand rand (R200 000.00) to be applied for the development of youth football project chosen for by the winner in consultation with both SAFA and the Motsepe Foundation.

The runners up will also play in the NFD and pocket half a million rand (R500-thousand-rand) –  they will receive an amount of four-hundred-thousand-rand (R400 000.00) with an additional one-hundred-thousand-rand (R100 000.00) to be applied for the development of youth football project chosen for by the runner-up in consultation with both SAFA and the Motsepe Foundation.

The teams taking part this year are Umvoti FC (KwaZulu Natal); Maccabi FC (Gauteng); Dolphins FC (Limpopo); Tornado FC (Eastern Cape); Steenbeek United (Western Cape); Buya Msuthu (North West); (Free State); (Mpumalanga) and (Northern Cape).

The three unnamed teams are still locked in disputes in their provinces, but the matters are expected to be finalised before the kickoff of the play-offs.

Super Eagles, who were playing in the ABC Motsepe two seasons ago, are back in the league after being relegated from the NFD. Eagles was promoted together with Uthongathi FC of KwaZulu Natal, who finished in position 11. Uthongathi were crowned champions of the ABC Motsepe League last season.

The Group stages will take place over three days from 4-6 June, with the semi-finals scheduled for the 7th. The final will be staged on Saturday, 9 May 2018 at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium. Kickoff is at 13h00.