Here is a quick guide to the last-eight clashes.
Unstoppable Pirates
Pirates host Durban City on Saturday, with there already being rumblings that things are not well with their opponents.
City lost their league opener 1-0 at Sekhukhune United last weekend to extend their winless streak in the league to nine matches (D4 L5), dating back to March.
New coach Khalil Ben Youssef has come in, but not much has changed on that front.
Despite their Nedbank Cup success last season, they have won only one away match in 2026 (D4 L5), a 1-0 success at Marumo Gallants.
By contrast, Pirates have lost only one of their last 23 home games (W17 D5), which was against Mamelodi Sundowns in February. This looks like a home banker.
That said, City did hold Pirates to a 0-0 draw late last season, while the Buccaneers won the reverse fixture 2-0 in Durban.
Pirates have lost only twice in the MTN8 in the last six years (W14 D5), and one of these defeats was in the second leg of the semi-finals against Stellenbosch in 2023, when they advanced anyway on away goals.
The other was a quarter-final loss to Swallows FC in 2021.
Weirdly for Pirates, their last 10 appearances have seen them either win the trophy (five times) or exit in the quarter-finals. There has been no middle ground.
Slow starters
Sundowns have been strangely poor in the MTN8 over the years, making slow starts to seasons that have yielded only one win in the competition since 2008.
That was five years ago, when they defeated Cape Town City on penalties, something they will want to put right as they welcome Polokwane City in their quarter-final clash on Saturday.
They do generally get past this stage, having lost in the last eight only once since 2018. They have lost five times in the semi-finals during that run and reached the final twice.
This will be their first competitive fixture since they lifted the CAF Champions League in May, following a disrupted pre-season due to the tragic death of midfielder Jayden Adams.
City started their league campaign with an excellent 2-1 away win at Richards Bay and will look to catch Sundowns cold.
This will be Polokwane’s fifth appearance in the MTN8. They have three quarter-final exits to go with one loss in the semi-finals.
Sundowns have won the last three meetings, but Polokwane did pull off a home win in 2024. The teams’ only other MTN8 meeting came a few months before that, when Sundowns won 1-0 at home.
Tight tussle
AmaZulu and Sekhukhune United will both fancy their chances when they meet in Durban on Sunday, with each seeking to lift the trophy for the first time.
It is a battle between the teams that finished fourth and fifth in the league last season, so you would expect a tight contest, even if Sekhukhune have had something of a squad overhaul since the last campaign.
Each won their opening league fixture 1-0 last weekend, so they have the confidence of three points and a clean sheet behind them.
History suggests a tight contest too. There have been 11 previous clashes, with Usuthu edging the head-to-head 4-3, with four draws.
Sekhukhune have won one of their five visits to AmaZulu (D2 L2), which was a 2-0 success in 2025. Their last visit was a 2-2 league draw in April.
The Limpopo club have one away win in their last seven road trips (D3 L3), while AmaZulu are generally tough to beat at home.
The only other knockout meeting between the sides was a Nedbank Cup clash in 2024 that Usuthu won 2-0 at Sekhukhune.
Early promise
New Kaizer Chiefs coach Fernando Da Cruz can win over the fans with some immediate silverware success if he can claim the MTN8, but he must first get past a tricky Lamontville Golden Arrows side in their quarter-final clash on Sunday.
Chiefs made a positive start to their campaign with a comprehensive 3-1 win at Kruger United last weekend, while Golden Arrows were held to a 0-0 draw by Chippa United.
That was one of five draws in their last six games, four of which have ended 0-0, suggesting something of an attacking crisis at the club.
Chiefs are back in the MTN8, having not qualified for the last two editions before a third-place finish in the league in 2025/26 earned them their return.
It is a competition in which they have really struggled in the last decade, winning only three of their 16 matches since the 2015 season (D6 L7). Those victories came against Free State Stars (2018), Maritzburg United (2020) and Cape Town City (2023).
In that time, they have exited in the quarter-finals on three occasions and in the semi-finals on four. They did not qualify in 2019, 2024 and 2025.
The last 10 clashes between the sides have seen six wins for Golden Arrows and four for Chiefs, who have claimed victory in the last two, both by 1-0 scorelines. There has not been a draw between the sides since 2020.
Golden Arrows have won three of their last five visits to Chiefs (L2).
Abafana Bes’thende famously lifted the MTN8 in 2009 when they thumped Ajax Cape Town 6-0 in the final, still the biggest winning margin in any major cup final in South African football history.
