The 2019 FA Challenge Cup was the 46th edition of the

FA Challenge Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in men's domestic Football in England, English football. First played d ...

, Botswana's premier football knockout tournament. It was sponsored by

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

and was known as the Orange FA Cup or Orange FA Cup Season 1 for sponsorship reasons. It started with the preliminary round on the weekend of 16 February and concluded with the final on 15 June 2019.

Botswana Premier League The Botswana Premier League, currently known as the BTC Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level football league in Botswana. Organised by the Botswana Football Association, the league was formed in 1978 to replace the pre-indep ...

side

Gaborone United Gaborone United Sporting Club (GU) is a football club from Botswana based in Gaborone. It is the only professional sporting club in Botswana. Its official sponsor is Bank Gaborone, who signed a three-year deal at the beginning of the 2022-23 seaso ...

were the defending champions but were eliminated by

Extension Gunners Extension Gunners FC is a football club based in Lobatse, Botswana. The team plays in the Botswana Premier League. They play at the Lobatse Sports Complex. History The club was founded in 1962 in the town of Lobatse as the Lobatse CS Gunners. It ...

on penalties in the round of 32. Orapa United went on to win the title for the first time in history, making them the first

Orapa Orapa is a town located in the Central District of Botswana. It is the site of the Orapa diamond mine, the largest diamond-producing mine in the world, and is considered to be the diamond capital of the country. Nearby is another kimberlite min ...

side to do so.

Qualifying rounds

All 16 Premier League teams automatically qualified to the round of 32. The top 8 teams from

First Division South First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and top 8 from

First Division North First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

had to go through the preliminary round and were joined by the 16

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

champions. Winners of this round qualified for the round of 32.

Preliminary round

The preliminary round draw took place on 23 January 2019. The draw was seeded into two, namely the northern and southern blocks. Southern block games were played on 16 and 17 February while northern block games were played on 23 and 24 February. Southern block Northern block

Round of 32

The round of 32 draw was conducted on 24 February 2019 after the conclusion of the preliminary round. It was not seeded. Jwaneng Fighters,

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1968 to 1973 and again from 19 ...

, Black Rangers, Black Peril, Sand Diamonds,

Peacemakers Peacemakers was an American pacifist organization founded following a conference on "More Disciplined and Revolutionary Pacifist Activity" in Chicago in July 1948. Ernest and Marion Bromley and Juanita and Wally Nelson largely organized the grou ...

, Kazungula Young Fighters and Santa Green from

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

are the lowest ranked teams still in the competition.

Round of 16

The round of 16 draw was conducted on 4 April 2019. It was not seeded. Jwaneng Fighters, Sand Diamonds and Kazungula Young Fighters from

are the lowest ranked teams still in the competition.

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinal draw was conducted on 14 April after the conclusion of the round of 16. It was not seeded. Jwaneng Fighters and Kazungula Young Fighters from

are the lowest ranked teams still in the competition.

Semifinals

The semifinal draw was conducted on 28 April after the Jwaneng Fighters and Police XI game.

Final

Awards

*Top goalscorer , Omaatla Kebatho (7 goals) , Orapa United *Player of the tournament , Mothusi Johnson , Orapa United *Goalkeeper of the tournament , Lesenya Malapela , Orapa United *Coach of the tournament ,

Mogomotsi Mpote Mogomotsi Mpote is a Motswana former footballer and manager currently in charge of club Botswana. Mpote played as a striker or classic number nine. Beginning his career as a teenager at Miscellaneous in 1976, he was nicknamed 'Teenage' becaus ...

, Orapa United *Referee of the tournament ,

Joshua Bondo Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

*Assistant referee of the tournament , Mogomotsi Morakile *Fan of the tournament , Luka Daniel ,

Township Rollers Township Rollers Football Club is a football club based in Gaborone, Botswana. Rollers are also known as Popa, The Blues or Tse Tala, the official nicknames of the club. The club is also often referred to as Mapalastina, a nickname that develop ...

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 FA Challenge Cup (Botswana) 2019–20 in African football