2011 Carling Black Label Cup

The 2011 Carling Black Label Cup was the first to be held. On 24 May 2011, South Africa’s most popular beer brand Carling Black Label launched an innovative campaign called “Be The Coach” where the fans will get to choose the team players for a match between two of South Africa’s largest football teams, Orlando Pirates, and Kaizer Chiefs. To pick the squad all users had to do was to buy a Black Label and follow the instructions using USSD on their phones to vote for the team members and positions.

The selected teams played the match on 30 July at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

About

The Carling Black Label Cup tournament has replaced the Telkom Charity Cup. Carling Black Label launched the campaign where the fans get to select the starting 11 players to take part in this once off Soweto Derby between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday 30 July 2011.

The tournament has been endorsed by former Dutch international Ruud Gullit. Ruud Gullit has appeared in the TV adverts for the tournament.

Fans had from 1 June 2011 till 27 June 2011 to select their top 15 player via their mobile phones. The final squad was announced on Thursday at 19:30 local time.

Carling Black Label has also announced that fans would select their own substitutions on the day of the game. During the first 45min, fans can send the shirt number of the player that they want to substitute via a text message. At 60min in the second half the player with the most votes will be substituted.

When voting had closed Kaizer Chiefs received 5,173,000 votes and Orlando Pirates 3,819,000 votes.

Venue

The FNB Stadium was chosen to host this once a year event. The FNB Stadium, known as Soccer City during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, is a stadium located in Nasrec, the Soweto area of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located next to the South African Football Association headquarters (SAFA House) where both the FIFA offices and the Local Organising Committee for the 2010 FIFA World Cup were housed. Designed as the main association football stadium for the World Cup, the FNB Stadium became the largest stadium in Africa with a capacity of 94,700, However its maximum capacity during the 2010 FIFA World Cup was 84,490 due to reserved seating for the press and other VIP's. The stadium is also known by its nickname "The Calabash" due to its resemblance to the African pot or gourd.

Prize money

An Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs fan will each win the prize of a lifetime this weekend, during the inaugural Carling Black Label Cup. South African Breweries, have committed R2-million in prize money for the match as part of the deal with the two clubs. The two chairmen, Irvin Khoza and Kaizer Motaung, have decided they will split the prize money and will donate R1-million to a Pirates fan and R1-million to a Chiefs fan for participating and voting in the “Be the Coach” campaign.

The announcement of the two winners will be made on Saturday, live, after the match and will be personally presented by the two chairmen.The winners will keep R500 000 to themselves while the other R500 000 will be donated by the fan to charities or charitable projects in their local communities. Eligible fans need to have participated in the “Be the Coach” campaign.

Delay of games

The match kicked off 30 minutes late due to supporters arriving late at the FNB Stadium.^[1].

Starting XI announcement

The starting XI for the match was announced live on Thursday 28 July 2011 on Supersport. The trophy that the teams will be playing for was also revealed by Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs chairmen Irvin Khoza and Kaizer Motaung.

Match

Details

Changes to the announced starting XI

• Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Mandla Masango has been withdrawn from the team to play due to injury. Reneilwe Letsholonyane will replace him in the midfield.
• Kaizer Chiefs defender Jimmy Tau has been withdrawn from the team to play due to injury. Tefu Mashamaite will replace him at the back in defence.

Unavailable players

• Former Kaizer Chiefs striker Knowledge Musona who was in the provisional starting XI as voted for by the fans was not included the final starting XI due to him signing a contract with Bundesliga club 1899 Hoffenheim on 28 July 2011.
• Nigerian and former Orlando Pirates striker Ezenwa Otorogu who was also in the provisional starting XI was not included in the final XI. It was announced on 28 July 2011 that Orlando Pirates have agreed a mutual termination of their contract with Ezenwa Otorogu.

Notes

External links

• Official website