Bafana Bafana legend Benni McCarthy says he wishes he was still playing after seeing the incentives of the Carling Knockout and Carling Cup competitions.
Since the new format was introduced, the Man of the Match recipient walks home with R100,000. Iqraam Rayners and Elvis Chipezeze secured R400,000 each after winning four Man of the Match honours in the 2023 and 2024 editions respectively.
Both players went on to win the Knockout Cup, but Chipezeze will now have the chance to go one further and potentially win R500,000, should he be voted by the fans as the winner for the Carling Cup, as Magesi take on the Carling All-Stars.
“I wish I was still playing, where do you see a R100,000 Man of the Match bonus, that’s more than what players earn at some clubs,” McCarthy said about the innovations of the new format.
“So it’s a great incentive but as I said, the exciting part is now that all teams can experience the involvement of being part of the Carling Cup, not just the Soweto giants, which was amazing for while it was there but now to give other teams opportunities.
“Now you seeing David slaughter Goliath situation, because you know in the league for the past four seasons it’s just been one-way traffic, Sundowns has completely dominated the league and no other teams have really got close to them.
“But in the cup competitions it’s an opportunity in a one-off game you have a couple of games and you find yourself in a cup final but in the league, it doesn’t happen that way.
“So it’s a nice platform where teams can get involved and there you have it, you have the Magesi’s who surprised loads of people but now people are now excited about Magesi now because of what they showcased in the Carling Knockout.
“Hopefully they can move up in the league because we want our league as exciting as the Carling Knockout Cup was.”
Magesi will have the chance to secure a historic cup double as Premiership rookies when they host the All Stars at Orlando Stadium on 21 December.
