For the first time in the history of the FNB Varsity Cup, eight teams will contest the FNB Varsity Cup while eight teams will also battle it out for the FNB Varsity Shield. This is after a dramatic end to the 2022 season that saw two teams relegated from the Varsity Cup and one team from the Varsity Shield being eliminated.
In their last round-robin fixture of the 2022 tournament, Paul Treu’s UWC troops were leading Maties 31-28 after 61 minutes, but couldn’t hold on for an epic victory. Three years after winning the Varsity Shield and being promoted, the team from Bellville ended ninth on the 2021-22 combined log and were relegated along with the 10th-placed Madibaz. The battle to get back into the top tier will take place once again as 2023 has been declared a promotion-relagation year.
2023 Promotion/Relegation
At the end of the 2023 season, the team ending bottom of the Varsity Cup log will automatically be relegated to the Varsity Shield, while the team finishing top of the Varsity Shield log will automatically be promoted to the Varsity Cup.
The team that finishes 7th on the Varsity Cup log will play in a promotion/relegation match on 17 April against the team that finishes 2nd on the Varsity Shield log.
The team that finishes bottom of the Varsity Shield log will play off against the top USSA team to decide who plays in the 2024 tournament.
FNB Varsity Cup and Shield 2023 FIXTURES HERE.
