The 19th Edition of the Nedbank Cup is finally here, and all the participating teams will find out who they will be pitted against in the Round of 32 draw on Thursday night.
The opening round is set to take place around the week of February 4 2026, with fixture dates, kick-off times, and venues to be confirmed by the PSL soon after the draw has been concluded.
As usual, the Nedbank Cup will feature 16 teams from the Betway Premiership. Eight clubs from the first division in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, and eight from the amateur ranks.
Kaizer Chiefs on mission to retain title
Kaizer Chiefs are currently the holders of the Ke Yona cup competition. They won it when they beat fierce rivals Orlando Pirates 2-1 in the final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium to end their decade-long trophy drought.
Like any other winner, the Glamour Boys will want to retain their title this season. But they will have to do so against the big guns in the Betway Premiership, such as Mamelodi Sundowns and Pirates, who have both bolstered their already strong squads in the current January transfer window.
There will also be several other lower division teams who will be in the mix. And they will be on a serious mission to cause big upsets.
The Nedbank Cup is famously known as the “David vs Goliath” competition because of how the lower division and amateur teams have always managed to eliminate the Premiership teams over the years.
Some of the teams that come to mind who have slayed giants are the likes of Dondol Stars, Milford FC, Maluti FET College, Baroka FC, AmaTuks, Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, and TS Galaxy, who beat Chiefs in the final back in 2019 when they were still plying their trade in the first division.
Various Safa Divisions represented
This season, there are teams like Army Rockets FC (North-West), Mkhambathi FC (KwaZulu-Natal), Luthuli Brigades FC (Mpumalanga), FC Cardinals (Free State), SSU M17 FC (Gauteng), and Tshakhuma (Limpopo) representing the various Safa Divisions across the country.
One more team from the Western Cape is yet to qualify and will complete the final 32 teams of the 2026 Nedbank Cup.
