NetOne Charity Shield takes new twist, fans to vote for the 4 teams

THE Charity Shield has once again taken another new format after the sponsors revealed that the final four teams would be determined by the number of votes from soccer fans, a development that could bring the sponsors into a collision course with the Premier Soccer League.

Speaking during a disbursement of proceeds from last year's final between eventual winners Dynamos and Motor Action, NetOne managing director Reward Kangai said the top four teams in terms of votes would clash in the semi-finals to decide the two finalists.

PSL president Twine Phiri, while not at liberty to reveal the technical details of the new format, confirmed that fans would now be involved in choosing the teams and all the 16 teams in the league would participate.

"The details are still not clear but I can confirm that from what was said by NetOne, all the 16 teams will be in the hat and only the top four, according to the votes, will proceed," said Phiri.

Soccer fans will be asked to vote through a Short Message Service (sms) for their favourite teams and send the details to 38080. It was not immediately clear by last night how the votes were going to be monitored.

Usually the Charity Shield is contested for by the league winners and winners of the premier knock-out tournament.

However, a source at the PSL said the mobile phone operator would be in direct violation of a signed contract that spelt out the format of the Charity Shield.

"That contract was signed two years ago and it ends this year so unless there is another new document, NetOne cannot suddenly change it without consultations," said the source.

Last year the final was dogged by controversy after BankABC, Dynamos' principal sponsors, dug in and ordered DeMbare to wear kits which were emblazoned with the bank's logo while NetOne wanted the two teams to wear NetOne emblazoned kits.