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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
CHAMPIONS CAPS United will bring the curtain down on a successful season when they honour outstanding performers at the club’s end-of-year awards ceremony at Rainbow Towers in Harare on Thursday.

The club’s chief executive Cuthbert Chitima told The Herald that Makepekepe, who recently ended 11 years of waiting by lifting the 2016 league title, have decided they will not end the year quietly like what has been happening in the previous campaigns.

The Green Machine have been making the headlines following a stellar season which also saw defender Hardlife Zvirekwi and veteran forward Leonard Tsipa winning the top two individual prizes at the Premiership Soccer Star of the Year awards.

Left-back Ronald Pfumbidzai was also named among the eleven best players plying their trade in Zimbabwe.

And it appears the trio will have a big say for the club’s biggest individual accolade, the Player of the Year award, to be selected by a special panel.

Chitima yesterday said arrangements were already advanced with the management set to finalise the logistics and agree on the prize monies by tomorrow.

“We will have the Player of the Year awards ceremony on December 15 and thereafter we will start talking about the Champions League preparations.

“So we are going to sit down either tomorrow (today) or Tuesday and we hope everything will be finalised then, including the prize moneys,” said Chitima.

In a season in which Chitima also felt they should have contributed about half dozen players on the Soccer Star of the Year calendar, it looks Soccer Star of the Year winner Zvirekwi, Tsipa and Pfumbidzai are not going to be the only players to vie for the podium at the club’s banquet.

CAPS United had strong performers this year with the likes of Stephen Makatuka, Phineas Bhamusi, Denis Dauda, Devon Chafa, Tafadzwa Rusike and Simba Nhivi all crying for attention.

The players will also select who they feel was their best performer to be crowned the Players’ Player of the Year while the supporters vote for the Supporters’ Player of the Year.

Veteran Tsipa is guaranteed of the Golden Boot award after netting the most goals in the whole league this season with 11 in the bag.

Tsipa scooped the Premiership Golden Boot for the second time after repeating the feat of 2004 when he scored 18 goals to help Makepekepe win the first of their back-to-back titles.

The other categories include the Rookie of the Year, Most Loyal Player, Most Disciplined and Most Improved Player.

There is also going to be a special award by the club’s president Farai Jere who is expected to present the President’s Award to a player, official or fan of his choice.

Already CAPS United players have been assured they will have one of the best festive holidays in years after the club made a commitment that the players and technical side will share half the prize money for winning the championship.

The Green Machine walked away with $100 000 for finishing top of the table and $50 000 will go directly to the playing staff as a gesture of appreciation from the club’s president.

Chitima said Makepekepe will intensify their preparations for the Champions League soon after the awards ceremony.

CAPS United, who haven’t stopped training, have to beat the December 31 deadline for the submission of the squad lists. “We are already busy with the paperwork and I am sure we should be done by the time we reach the Christmas holidays.

“The good thing is that we are not tampering much with our squad so in terms of meeting the CAF deadlines we are not worried.

“We met the coach last week and we agreed we have a strong squad. We will keep it small and probably bring in new players if we qualify for the Group stage of the Champions League.

“After the awards, we will be concentrating solely on the preparations. It’s our wish to have something like a month of camping away from the city like we did early this year. It helps with bonding and team building.

“It’s something that we are still wishing for,” said Chitima.

CAPS United also revealed that goalkeeper Jorum Muchambo was a key part of their Champions League squad and will remain at the club.

“Jorum isn’t going anywhere because we believe he is a big part of this club and remember he played more than half the number of games in the league this year and it’s something that people tend to overlook,” club president Jere said.

“He is a good player and has already been included in our Champions League squad.”