The Carling Knockout Cup is a South African professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

knockout competition which comprises the 16 teams in the

South African Premiership The South African Premiership, also known as the Betway Premiership for sponsorship reasons, and commonly referred to as the PSL after its governing body, is a professional soccer league in South Africa and the highest level of the South Afr ...

. The Carling Knockout Cup is the third of the three main cups administered by the

PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league *Palau Soccer League, top division association football league in Palau *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league *Philippine Super Liga, a defunct profes ...

along with the

MTN 8 The MTN 8 is a South African soccer single-elimination tournament, cup competition launched in 1972 for teams who finished in the top 8 positions of the league table of the country's preceding season of the top-flight league (currently the Sout ...

and the

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's Premier Soccer League, premier club association football, soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of gi ...

. The Carling Knockout Cup was first held in 1982 as the Datsun Challenge, and in 2023 under its current sponsored name.

Format

The format used in this competition is the Knockout Stage phase. The competition will be played by 16 teams in a single knockout match. A winner will be decided after full-time (90 minutes). If the two teams playing against each other are still tied after full-time, then the match will go through to

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. If the score is still tied, then the match will go to penalties. The winner of the match must be decided on the match day. After the conclusion of the competition, the winner will play against a best-XI voted by the fans. The All-stars team must consist of 6 players from the first tier league and 6 players from the second tier, and a coach voted on by the fans.

Sponsorship

The competition was established in 1982 and was first known as the Datsun Challenge. Under the new NSL regime in 1984, it became known as the ''JPS Knockout Cup''. It used this name until 1992 when it became known as the ''

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

Cup''. It was sponsored by the drinks manufacturer until 1996, when it was replaced by the ''

Rothmans Rothmans may refer to: * Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, a Canadian tobacco company * Rothmans International, a former British tobacco manufacturer, founded by Louis Rothman See also

* Rothman, a surname * Rothmans 12 hours, a series of sports car r ...

Cup'' which was changed back to the ''Coca-Cola Cup'' in 2001 due to the new rules regarding

tobacco sponsorship Nicotine marketing is the marketing of nicotine-containing products or use. Traditionally, the tobacco industry markets cigarette smoking, but it is increasingly marketing other products, such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco produc ...

in sport. Telkom became the new sponsors in 2006 until 2020. The 2020/21 edition was cancelled after the loss of the main sponsor and in August 2021 it was confirmed that the tournament would no longer be held, citing fixture congestion. However the competition resumed in the 2023/24 season following a new sponsorship deal with alcoholic beverage company

Carling Black Label Carling Black Label is a lager distributed by Carling Brewing Company. History Although its original focus was on ale, Carling has brewed lager-style beers since the 1870s. In 1927, as part of a corporate re-branding under new president ...

, being renamed the Carling Knockout Cup.

Competition history

Results by team

References

External links

Telkom Knockout Cup official websitePremier Soccer LeagueSouth African Football Association
{{South African soccer seasons

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

Soccer cup competitions in South Africa Recurring sporting events established in 1982 1982 establishments in South Africa