‘BULL’ MISS OUT ON E200K TOP FOUR PRIZE

MBABANE – Capital city giants Mbabane Highlanders’ 2023/24 season has been a tale of missed opportunities, as they find themselves unable to secure a top-four finish and the accompanying E200 000 prize.

While their arch-rivals, Mbabane Swallows, are on the cusp of claiming their seventh league title, Highlanders’ fate is quite the opposite.
Despite Swallows needing just one win against Ezulwini United to clinch the championship with two games to spare, Highlanders face a different reality. Even if they were to win their remaining two games, they would fall short of finishing within the top five, ending at 41 points, just one shy of fifth-placed Royal Leopard’s 42 points.

The financial implications are significant, with the fourth-placed team entitled to E200 000, while the fifth and sixth-placed teams are set to receive E100 000 and E75 000, respectively. Highlanders’ predicament is compounded by their substantial monthly expenses, estimated at E200 000, which include salaries, training, transport and other costs.

Burden

This financial burden contrasts starkly with the meagre earnings of about E75 000 or E40 000 if they were to finish in the sixth or seventh spot, respectively. This season has been particularly disappointing for the Black Bulls, marking one of their worst performances in the past three seasons. Their best showing in this period was as runners-up in the 2021/22 season, while they finished fourth in the 2022/23 and 2020/21 seasons.

The outcome of their upcoming matches against Manzini Wanderers and Green Mamba will ultimately determine their final position. Notably, against their last two opponents they managed to secure draws in the first round. They played to 1-all draw against Wanderers and the game against Green Mamba ended in a 2-all draw. Efforts to draw comments from Highlanders’ Public Relations Officer Kenneth Dlamini were fruitless after several attempts.

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