Grace Chingoma The Charity Shield is traditionally the season’s opening tournament pitting the league champions against the winners of the biggest knock out competition
— the CBZ FA Cup. Champions Monomotapa, CBZ FA Cup winners CAPS United, first and second runners-up in the league – Dynamos and Njube Sundowns — will take part in the tournament. PSL fixtures secretary Godfrey Japapapa yesterday said they had scheduled that the tournament be played in June but have had a change of plan and it will now be played in July. “The Charity Shield will now be played in July. We wanted it to be played in June but then saw that most soccer loving fans will be glued on their television sets watching the Confederations Cup in South Africa. “The idea of the Charity Shield is to raise money for charitable organisations so there is need to maximise on the support and the crowd. “We are also aware of the fact that Monomotapa will soon be busy with Champions League commitments but we will try to have the Charity Shield before those international matches begin,” Japajapa said.
The Champions League mini-league phase in which Monoz are in a tough group that includes Democratic Republic of Congo giants TP Mazembe, Heartland of Nigeria and four-time champions Etoile Du Sahel of Tunisia bursts into life on the weekend of July 17-19.