THE Premier Soccer League has postponed the MTN8 Cup final to allow Amajita to take all five Ajax Cape Town players to the World Youth Championship.
THE Premier Soccer League has postponed the MTN8 Cup final to allow Amajita to take all five Ajax Cape Town players to the World Youth Championship.
Thulani Serero, Taufeeq Sallie, George Maluleka, Thulani Hlatshwayo and Sameehg Doutie were named in the team to represent South Africa in Egypt.
Ajax were supposed to meet Lamontville Golden Arrows in the Wafa Wafa final at Orlando Stadium on September 26, a day before the start of the tournament.
The final will now be played at the same venue on October 24.
"The tournament is not part of the Fifa international calendar. Ajax Cape Town were well within their rights to withdraw the players from the squad but we as the league and cup committee felt that it's best that they travel to Egypt," explained PSL general manager Ace Ncobo. "We encouraged Ajax Cape Town to release their players with the proviso that we reschedule the final to October 24. It's part of our good working relationship with Safa but at the same time the players will also be the major beneficiaries."
Dudley Zikhali of MTN commended the Urban Warriors for agreeing to release the five players. Sowetan has learnt that Ajax were threatening to take the matter to court.
George Comitis, Ajax's chief executive, said: "It was never our intention not to release our players for the Under-20 World Cup.
"In fact, we requested that Safa allow us to hold onto only two players and they would join up with the rest of the squad after the cup final."
Ncobo said all Absa Premiership fixtures scheduled for October 24 and 25 will now be played on September 26 and 27.
Those originally scheduled for October 28 will now take place on September 30.
Under-20s benefit from postponement of MTN8 final
THE Premier Soccer League has postponed the MTN8 Cup final to allow Amajita to take all five Ajax Cape Town players to the World Youth Championship.
THE Premier Soccer League has postponed the MTN8 Cup final to allow Amajita to take all five Ajax Cape Town players to the World Youth Championship.
Thulani Serero, Taufeeq Sallie, George Maluleka, Thulani Hlatshwayo and Sameehg Doutie were named in the team to represent South Africa in Egypt.
Ajax were supposed to meet Lamontville Golden Arrows in the Wafa Wafa final at Orlando Stadium on September 26, a day before the start of the tournament.
The final will now be played at the same venue on October 24.
"The tournament is not part of the Fifa international calendar. Ajax Cape Town were well within their rights to withdraw the players from the squad but we as the league and cup committee felt that it's best that they travel to Egypt," explained PSL general manager Ace Ncobo. "We encouraged Ajax Cape Town to release their players with the proviso that we reschedule the final to October 24. It's part of our good working relationship with Safa but at the same time the players will also be the major beneficiaries."
Dudley Zikhali of MTN commended the Urban Warriors for agreeing to release the five players. Sowetan has learnt that Ajax were threatening to take the matter to court.
George Comitis, Ajax's chief executive, said: "It was never our intention not to release our players for the Under-20 World Cup.
"In fact, we requested that Safa allow us to hold onto only two players and they would join up with the rest of the squad after the cup final."
Ncobo said all Absa Premiership fixtures scheduled for October 24 and 25 will now be played on September 26 and 27.
Those originally scheduled for October 28 will now take place on September 30.
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