ZVISHAVANE – FC Platinum were crowned Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League champions Saturday to seal their fourth straight triumph in the country’s top flight football.
The Norman Mapeza coached outfit finished the season on 75 points, 12 better than second placed Chicken Inn who are on 63 after a football marathon of 34 matches.
Former champions Dynamos were third on 58 with Ngezi Platinum and Highlanders finishing the season on fourth and fifth position with 55 and 51 points respectively.
Fallen giants Caps United finished number 11 with an uninspiring 40 points.
Harare City, Bulawayo City, Tenax and Whawha were relegated from the premiership in a striking coincidence of city and prison run teams failing to stand the heat in the country’s top flight football.
FC Platinum won the league with few matches to spare some weeks ago but were presented with the glittering Castle Lager Premier Soccer League trophy in front of a home crowd after hammering Cranborne Bullets 3-0 Saturday.
By winning domestic football’s biggest prize, FC Platinum join the elite group of few teams that have won four straight premiership titles in the country.
Only Highlanders and Dynamos have done that before.
In an interview, Mapeza said the feat was far from being easy.
“This was a special one because we did it with a relatively young squad,” Mapeza told the media soon after the crowning event.
“In 2018, we had a fantastic squad but this time we had to fuse in some new players and it feels special.
“Sometimes you won’t feel the happiness because you are always working hard.
“Second half of the season was always about work…it was about planning, sourcing information about other teams.”
