The Mascom Top 8 Cup is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

cup competition in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

. It was created in 2012, and features the top eight finishers from the

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 ...

. Since 2013, the winners qualify for the

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football club competition established in 2004 from a merger of the CAF Cup and the African Cup Winners' Cup and organi ...

, as 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 ...

is not played. This was stopped in 2019 with the return of the FA Cup.

Format

The Mascom Top 8 Cup is played by the top eight finishers from the previous season of the Premier League. The quarter-finals and semi-finals are played as two-legged ties both home and away, with a once-off final. In the case where the scores are tied after the two-legged ties, the

Away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

will apply to decide the winner. However, this rule only applies in the first 90 minutes. If the aggregate score and the away goals scored are level after the 90 minutes of the 2nd leg, the teams will proceed to extra time and the Away goals rule will be disregarded thereafter. This means that if the aggregate score is still tied after extra time, the match will proceed to a penalty shoot-out regardless of the away goals scored in that 30 minutes. This slight deviation from the standard Away goals rule led to controversy in the semi-final of the 2018–19 Mascom Top 8 Gaborone Derby clash between bitter rivals

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Rollers had won the 1st leg 2-0 away. In the 2nd leg, United also won 2-0 away, meaning the match would then proceed to extra time with the 2-2 aggregate score and Away goals rule would not apply then. In extra time, Rollers pulled one back before a late United penalty restored their 2 goal advantage to finish the match at 3-1 (aggregate 3-3). At the end of extra time, Rollers fans and players prematurely celebrated as they thought they were through to the final on away goals. After a delay and reference to the rules of the competition, the penalty shoot-out was eventually played to a mostly empty

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

as most of the fans had left, oblivious to what was transpiring on the field of play. Gaborone United won the shoot-out 10-9 and proceeded to the final where they'd suffer a 0-2 defeat to

Jwaneng Galaxy Jwaneng Galaxy Football Club is a Botswana football club based in Jwaneng. The club currently plays in the Botswana Premier League. History Galaxy were founded in 2015 after two local clubs merged: the Jwaneng Comets and the Debswana Youngsters. ...

Past finals

*2011/12:

3-1

ECCO City Green ECCO City Greens FC is a football club from Botswana based in Francistown. Honours *Mascom Premier League The Botswana Premier League, currently known as the BTC Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level Association football ...

s *2012/13:

2-1

Botswana Defence Force The Botswana Defence Force (BDF, tn, Sesole Sa Botswana) is the military of Botswana. The main component of the BDF is the Botswana Ground Force; there is also an air wing and a riverine patrol contingent attached to the ground forces, with 10 ...

*2013/14:

Botswana Defence Force XI Botswana Defence Force XI Football Club is a football club from Botswana based in Mogoditshane and playing home games in Gaborone. It is the club of the Botswana Defence Force, being composed mostly of military players. As of 2007, players were e ...

1-1 (aet; 5-4 pen.)

*2014/15:

2-1

*2015/16: Orapa United 3-1 (aet)

*2016/17:

4-3 (aet) Orapa United *2017/18:

4-2 Orapa UnitedTownship Rollers claim Mascom Top 8 glory
/ref> *2018/19:

0-2

*2019/20: Orapa United 1-1 (aet; 4-3 pen.)

*2020/21: Cancelled *2021/22: Cancelled

Results by team

Manager records

References

External links

Official webpage of BPL Mascom Top 8 Cup
Botswana Premier League
2014/15 Mascom Top 8
Botswana Premier League {{Football in Botswana Football competitions in Botswana