Nicha Cache. 8 Cup Final summary
There was a sellout crowd at Mbombela Stadium for the MTN8 Cup final as the same two teams from 2024 final returned again in 2025. Orlando Pirates won 3-1 last year. This time Andre De Jong and his mates took them much deeper, forcing extra time after a scoreless ninety minutes... but that was where they ran out of steam. Pirates scored in a flurry and left with a 3-0 victory and another trophy. ADJ played the full thing. Got a yellow card right near the end. He was up for it, probably his team’s most influential attacker, but the luck wasn’t there and nobody’s doubting that the better team won.
There was a sellout crowd at Mbombela Stadium for the MTN8 Cup final as the same two teams from 2024 final returned again in 2025. Orlando Pirates won 3-1 last year. This time Andre De Jong and his mates took them much deeper, forcing extra time after a scoreless ninety minutes... but that was where they ran out of steam. Pirates scored in a flurry and left with a 3-0 victory and another trophy. ADJ played the full thing. Got a yellow card right near the end. He was up for it, probably his team’s most influential attacker, but the luck wasn’t there and nobody’s doubting that the better team won.
Nevertheless, this was another great cup run from Stellies. In 2023 they won the Carling Knockout Cup to deliver the club’s first ever top-level trophy (alongside the First Division title they won five years earlier). Since then they’ve also been runners up in the MTN8 twice, made the semis of the CAF Confederation Cup, and managed consecutive third-placed finishes in the Premiership.