About 16 teams from around the country are expected to take part in the championship. Garrison North Kings of Francistown are the defending champions. They will have a hard time against challengers like Bonyonyo, Combined Forces, Kings and Poisonous Snakes. When Garrison won the title last year, many pundits pointed out that a number of top teams were absent as the NDB sponsorship was announced late. Those that managed to assemble at short notice did not field their best players.
The captain of Garrison Dumisani Mfanenyama said they want to show their rivals that their win was no fluke. "That the other teams will field their strongest line-ups is a motivation in itself for us to go all out and defend our title. Hopefully this time, they will accord us the necessary respect that we deserve," a confident Mfanenyama told Mmegi Sport. He said the absence of Providence Oatlhotse who is at the All Africa Games (AAG) in Algeria as coach of the women team will not affect Garrison as the club thrives on team effort and not individualism. "Of course we will miss him badly on top board but as everyone knows, a team is made of a group and not just one person. I'm confident that the players we field will do the job for us."
