When Chiefs do the ceremonious handing back of the ABSA Cup Trophy to the tournament organizers on Monday evening, they will be hoping that is all that it is - a ceremonious handing back of the Cup. As The Amakhosi have every intention of mounting a successful defence of the trophy they won in May last year, they will be looking forward to getting back up on to the winners podium on the 26th May, the scheduled date for this years ABSA Cup Final.

Chiefs enter this year's ABSA Cup with not just the overall title to defend, but have five individual titles to bring back to the trophy cabinet at the clubs base in Naturena. At the conclusion of the 2006 ABSA Cup, five members of the Chiefs' playing, technical and back room staff won awards for their individual contributions to the club's success in the tournament last year.

First up was defender Patrick Mayo who walked away with a huge cash prize as well as a brand new Ford Focus, as well as the player of the tournament award.

Going into this year’s competition which kicks off later this month, Mayo is calling out to all challengers who wish to dethrone Chiefs and take away his personal crown as player of the tournament. Mayo who played in the 2006 ABSA Cup semifinal game against Mamelodi Sundowns with a broken toe, said of this years competition “when you are the defending champions, everyone wants to knock you down. My challenge to the rest of the teams is that we not going to let go of the cup easily and we will fight all the way to the final to hold on to it”.

Another award winner last year was Chiefs goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez who picked up the Silver Moment of Brilliance award for a save he made during the 2006 ABSA Cup Final against Orlando Pirates. The Amakhosi number one is looking forward to the excitement of the ABSA Cup and added, “Cup football is always exciting and it does not matter whether you play against PSL teams or teams from the lower divisions as we found out first hand when we needed extra time to beat Mvela Golden League Team City Pillars”.

The Chiefs keeper was making reference to Chiefs' four-three win over the first division team in the round of sixteen during last year's competition. Chiefs were minutes from being eliminated from the tournament thanks to Louis Agyemang who equalized in injury time at the end of the second half. Chiefs forced the game into extra time where Cyril Nzama popped up in the final minute of extra time to hand Chiefs victory in a game which produced seven goals.

Last season's ABSA Cup was Chiefs' first win in the competition under the guise of current sponsors ABSA. It was also Chiefs' first win in the competition in seven years.

Another first for was achieved for Chiefs in last season's ABSA Cup as the club's official website won an award for its in-depth coverage of the tournament. Chiefs brand manager Dara Carroll explains that the club intends to once again share their ABSA Cup experience with their fans.

“Last year it was really a great achievement on behalf of the club that Yusuf Muhammad won the dream journalist of the tournament award. Just as we did last year, we will keep our fans up to date on all our ABSA Cup activities hopefully right up to the final in May” added Carroll.

Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp, who guided his team to victory in the 2006 ABSA Cup, was also an award winner and left the tournament as the 2006 ABSA Cup Coach of the tournament. He has no preference as to who he would like to play in the round of 32 of this coming years ABSA Cup.

“Last season we played against four PSL teams: SuperSport, Leopards, Sundowns and Pirates as well as Mvela team City Pillars. As challenging as the draw was, we were able to win the tournament. It suits us to play against tougher teams as it helps bring out the best in us” said Ernst.

When questioned if he would be able to hold onto his coach of the tournament prize from 2006, he answered “I would love to win the ABSA Cup again. Winning the individual award is not important to me, seeing my happy players smiling with their medals around their necks, is”.

Chiefs' final award winner from the 2006 ABSA Cup was Louis Agyemang whose goals shot Chiefs to ABSA Cup glory and won him the honor of being the top goal scorer last season.

With Ernst Middendorp not particularly concerned with who his team will face, Chiefs enter the ABSA Cup in 2007 as defending champions and are confident that they will not relinquish their grip on the ABSA Cup trophy.