The unveiling was done in London on Monday afternoon with several past and current Proteas players in attendance, as well as a handful of the international marquee players which will be competing.

The eight cities which will be hosting the tournament are Bloemfontein, Durban, Benoni, Pretoria, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.

Each of the cities will be represented by one of the eight Proteas marquee players.

The destructive VKB Knights batsman, David Miller, will represent the Bloemfontein-based team, which is owned by the Hong Kong businessman, Sushil Kumar of Corporation City Sports.

The CEO of the VKB Knights, Johan van Heerden, told OFM Sport that it’s a massive deal to receive a franchise for the tournament.

“They actually caught me off guard. When they mentioned Benoni as the first host city I thought, well that’s our spot gone.

“Luckily all things panned out because of all the hard work we’ve put in over the last couple of years.

“We were the sixth best franchise three years ago, we then became the fourth best province in the country and we're third in the current year.

“I’m extremely happy and over the moon that Cricket South Africa has seen the hard work that we’ve put in and they have put our name forward.

“That’s lovely.

“We’re getting probably one of the best businessmen in the world and in the Hong Kong economy, namely Sushil Kumar of City Sports.

“That they have seen a way to move their business and brand forward through Bloemfontein is an honour for all of us.”

“We thank them very much and we’re going to make them proud.”

Van Heerden believes that the fact that Miller plays his domestic franchise cricket in the City of Roses played a huge role in securing the hosting rights in Central South Africa. On top of that, he also feels that the legendary fast bowler, Allan Donald, also played a role and for that he thanks them.

In recent years Bloemfontein has missed out on international sport in a major way, although ironically a rugby (Springboks vs. Wallabies) and cricket (Proteas vs. Bangladesh) Test will be played locally this year.

Van Heerden is of the view that the Global T20 League is an opportunity to put Bloemfontein on the international sporting map again.

“We’ve seen that all the international Tests - rugby, cricket etc. - have gone to all the other cities, so I’m just so happy for the people of Bloemfontein that something is coming to us.

“We’re going to give it one hell of a go and we’re going to make Bloemfontein and the whole of the Free State very proud.

“I think the whole economy will benefit from this and I just hope that everybody stands together and lets’ make this the best ever event in Bloemfontein.

It is believed that 400 players from 10 countries will be part of the player auction on 19 August. Of these players over a 150 have already played international cricket.

The Mangaung Oval, which will be the venue, is also set for a slight upgrade to the tune of R8 million.

The team names will be revealed at a later date and the tournament will be played in November and December.

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport