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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

HIGHLANDERS and FC Platinum will collide in the season opener, the Castle Challenge Cup, at Barbourfields Stadium on March 14. 

The tie is played between Castle Lager Premier Soccer League champions and winners of the Chibuku Super Cup. 

The cup match used to be played as the last game of the season, but was changed to become a season opener this year after the 2019 season overlapped into mid-December.

Winners will get $400 000 with the losers walking away with $250 000. 

This will be a tasty battle of foreign coaches involving Bosso’s Mark Harrison and Pieter De Jongh of FC Platinum. Harrison and De Jongh were announced as head coaches of the two clubs during the off-season.

Both will be hoping to start their careers at their new clubs on a winning note and fans will not have to wait long to watch the two coaches going toe to toe.

If the reception that De Jongh got when he returned to Barbourfields Stadium with FC Platinum in the Caf Champions league is anything to go by, we are certainly in for more. 

The Dutchman was greeted by jeers from the small crowd on that day and one wonders how things will turn out when the Bosso faithful come in their numbers.

De Jongh was in charge of Bosso in the last four months of the 2019 season, helping them to a respectable sixth-place finish and Chibuku Super Cup glory. He had become a fans’ darling with his victory walks to the appreciative Bosso fans.

Harrison on the other hand, will be hoping to start his career at Bosso on a positive note. Victory over the champions will go a long way in cementing his place in the hearts of the Bosso faithful. 

Gate charges for the match are $50 for the rest of ground, 100 (VIP) and $200 (VVIP). – @innocentskizoe