FOCUS ON 2024 MPUMALANGA PREMIER CUP LAUNCH:

MBABANE – South Africa’s DStv Premiership side TS Galaxy Chairperson Tim Sukazi, said he wanted to use Mbabane Swallows as a platform to promote the country’s football.

Sukazi made these revelations during the official launch of the 2024 Mpumalanga Premier Cup, which was held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Mbabane, yesterday.The occasion was attended by the Umkhonto KaShaka Acting President Mvana Ngwenya, Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Executive Member Sithembiso ‘Ngudze’ Mamba, who represented the PLE Chairperson Mark Carmichael as well as the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) President Peter ‘Samora’ Simelane and top brass officials from both TS Galaxy and Swallows.

The red and white capital city giants recently received an invitation from TS Galaxy to be part of the four-team Mpumalanga Premier Cup. The tournament has been penned for the Mbombela Stadium and it is anticipated to be played on July 20, with the finals scheduled for July 27, 2024.

Bundesliga

The four clubs to compete in this year’s edition are Swallows, TS Galaxy, Young Africans, who are also known as Yanga  as well as Augsburg from the Bundesliga in Germany. Yanga  are from Tanzania. “The reason we are here as TS Galaxy is to extend our hand in promoting Eswatini football and as a team for emaSwati, we’ve decided to come here to start a partnership,” Sukazi said. He said as liSwati, he believed and was confident that the country’s football could be promoted, but the only challenge was the lack of opportunities and resources.  “We have Mbabane Swallows as the platform to be used to promote our football and the starting point was to invite the champions to be part of the tournament. We even went out of our way to get a big team from Germany (Augsburg),” he said.

Sukazi also shared that the idea was to give the Caleb Ngwenya-coached outfit the opportunity to learn from the clubs and be exposed to international football. “It pains TS Galaxy not to see Eswatini players in the DStv Premiership as I know that there is talent here, but soon, this would be a thing of the past,” he added. He further revealed that the nation should be proud that TS Galaxy was the only club for emaSwati and they should be proud that they are well represented in the DStv Premiership. “It’s possible to bring the tournament in the country (Eswatini), but the issue of facilities is a major letdown,” he said.

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