With six matches remaining before the end of the Motsepe Foundation Championship League soccer season, no clarity exists about which team will gain automatic promotion to the DStv Premiership Division and which ones will be relegated to the lower division at the end of the season.
Although Black Leopards are currently lying at the bottom of the log with 18 points, that the team will be campaigning in the lower division come next season is not a foregone conclusion. Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) are perched in the second-last position with one point more than Black Leopards. The other relegation candidates are Baroka FC, Platinum City Rovers and MM Platinum FC.
Black Leopards must beat their fellow relegation candidates when they meet them to enhance their chances of escaping the chop. Their next fixture will be against Baroka FC at the Global Stadium in Lebowakgomo next Saturday, 1 April. Then they will take on TTM, with whom they will lock horns at the Thohoyandou Stadium on Saturday, 9 April, followed by an away match against Platinum City Rovers. Lidoda duvha's second-last fixture will be against Cape Town All Stars. They will wrap up their league programme with an away fixture against Venda Football Academy at the Thohoyandou Stadium.
Although VFA need at least four points in their six remaining fixtures to be safe, most of their remaining hurdles look tricky. Some of their remaining fixtures will be against teams fighting for survival, while others are in the race for promotion. Some of the teams they will face along the way include Casric Stars and Cape Town Spurs, who are both within the top three teams on the log standings.
TTM will be lucky if they manage to retain their Motsepe Foundation Championship for another season. Vhadau Vha Damani are still to win a league match this year. They are still battling to come to terms with the 0-3 drubbing they had suffered at the hands of Uthongathi FC last Saturday.