WITH the destiny of the league title decided on Tuesday night – Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned champions – the focus now turns to the individual awards as well as who will contest the promotional play-offs.
The PSL yesterday unveiled the players, coaches and officials who stood head and shoulders above the rest this season.
Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Willard Katsande, Sundowns captain Alje Schut and Bidvest Wits star Sibusiso Vilakazi were nominated for the prestigious PSL Footballer of the Season which comes with a cheque of R250000.
The winners will be announced at a gala dinner to be held on May 18 at the Sandton Convention Centre.
Judging panel convenor Farouk Khan conceded that this season did “not really rank up there with the best” but said he did not agree with those who believe the annual awards ceremony should have been scrapped.
“The awards are there to motivate and maybe these awards should motivate people to do better next season,” said Khan.
“If you just scrap awards, then you are saying the league has been a failure. I do not think that the league has been a failure and there have been highlights.
“There are a couple of areas that need to be improved but I think we are working towards that. This is part of the process to incentivise people to do better.”
With Golden Arrows already occupying the automatic relegation spot, Polokwane City and Free State Stars will be looking to end the season on a winning note to avoid the dreaded playoffs.
Polokwane City currently lead second from bottom FSS by two points and a win over SuperSport United, irrespective of the outcome between their Free State rivals and Moroka Swallows, would guarantee their safety.
The curtain will come down on the Absa Premiership tomorrow afternoon after an arduous season that even the Premier Soccer League (PSL) admitted yesterday has been one of the most challenging in years.
The passing of former president Nelson Mandela in December, the staging of the African Nations Championship four months ago and inevitable fixture postponements were some of the tricky pitfalls that PSL general manager Derek Blanckensee said kept league officials on their toes the past nine months.
“At one stage we were going to have matches and then at one stage we weren’t,” Blanckensee said yesterday.
“So I think the important lesson there is to take a decision early about what is going to happen and not change during the season.
“Some of the things were unavoidable and when former president Nelson Mandela passed away, there was nothing we could do about it.”
Complicating matters further for the PSL was the burden of finding a way to finish the season two weeks earlier than usual as this is a World Cup year.
“Even with the enormous complications we had, we still managed to finish the season two weeks earlier than we normally do,” said Blanckensee.
Spotlight on stars
The PSL yesterday unveiled the players, coaches and officials who stood head and shoulders above the rest this season.
Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Willard Katsande, Sundowns captain Alje Schut and Bidvest Wits star Sibusiso Vilakazi were nominated for the prestigious PSL Footballer of the Season which comes with a cheque of R250000.
The winners will be announced at a gala dinner to be held on May 18 at the Sandton Convention Centre.
Judging panel convenor Farouk Khan conceded that this season did “not really rank up there with the best” but said he did not agree with those who believe the annual awards ceremony should have been scrapped.
“The awards are there to motivate and maybe these awards should motivate people to do better next season,” said Khan.
“If you just scrap awards, then you are saying the league has been a failure. I do not think that the league has been a failure and there have been highlights.
“There are a couple of areas that need to be improved but I think we are working towards that. This is part of the process to incentivise people to do better.”
With Golden Arrows already occupying the automatic relegation spot, Polokwane City and Free State Stars will be looking to end the season on a winning note to avoid the dreaded playoffs.
Polokwane City currently lead second from bottom FSS by two points and a win over SuperSport United, irrespective of the outcome between their Free State rivals and Moroka Swallows, would guarantee their safety.
The curtain will come down on the Absa Premiership tomorrow afternoon after an arduous season that even the Premier Soccer League (PSL) admitted yesterday has been one of the most challenging in years.
The passing of former president Nelson Mandela in December, the staging of the African Nations Championship four months ago and inevitable fixture postponements were some of the tricky pitfalls that PSL general manager Derek Blanckensee said kept league officials on their toes the past nine months.
“At one stage we were going to have matches and then at one stage we weren’t,” Blanckensee said yesterday.
“So I think the important lesson there is to take a decision early about what is going to happen and not change during the season.
“Some of the things were unavoidable and when former president Nelson Mandela passed away, there was nothing we could do about it.”
Complicating matters further for the PSL was the burden of finding a way to finish the season two weeks earlier than usual as this is a World Cup year.
“Even with the enormous complications we had, we still managed to finish the season two weeks earlier than we normally do,” said Blanckensee.
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