BLOEMFONTEIN – A new Varsity Football men’s champion will be crowned after defending champions, the University of the Free State (UFS), dramatically fell short to reach the semifinals despite a 2 – 1 win over the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in the final round-robin fixtures. The fixture formed part of all deciding matches that took place on Friday 18 September, at various venues.

The semifinals will see all-Gauteng derbies. Wits University take on Tshwane University of Technology (TUT); and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) face off against the University of Pretoria (UP-Tuks) on Friday 25 September.

Both Kovsies and UWC had a mathematical chance of reaching the semifinals with a win by a three-goal margin, which would have eliminated the dark horse, TUT. Instead, the four-time champions TUT sneaked into the semifinals thanks to a one-goal advantage over UFS and a three-goal advantage over UWC.

The Pretoria-based university improved their chances with a 4 – 1 demolition of hapless, rock-bottom University of Limpopo (UL). A draw would not have been enough for two-time champions UWC to qualify, as it would have left the door open for TUT to overtake them on goal difference.

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UFS and UWC slugged it out on a rain-soaked pitch in the Shimla Park Stadium in Bloemfontein. Both rued numerous missed scoring opportunities due to their inability to convert the chances needed to secure a semifinal berth. UFS head coach Mokete Tsotetsi stood in disbelief as his charges missed more chances at the death of the game.

Wits are searching for their maiden trophy, while TUT hunt their fifth title. The inaugural champions UP-Tuks eye their fourth trophy this yea,r while UJ’s Orange Army are desperately searching for their second crown. Both UJ and Wits finished the round-robin series on 16 points and one loss. The latter top the log standings, having scored 12 goals across seven matches. UJ scored 9 goals in total, while UP-Tuks banged in 13 goals across all matches.

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