[2][3][4] Participants are decided half-way through current season (match day 17)[5] and are picked from the two highest divisions in Zambia.

Since the inaugural season of National Division One in the 2019–20 season, 2 teams are picked from that division and 6 are from the Super League to enter the competition each year.

[9] The video assistant referee (VAR) was introduced to the competition and implemented on a pilot basis at the final of the 2023 edition,[10][11] a first in Zambian football and Sub-Saharan African football as a whole.

Thus, this put Zambia on the list as the 3rd African country after Morocco and Egypt to introduce and implement VAR in domestic football matches.

[12] Head of referees at FAZ, Aziph Banda, cited the inadequacy of FIFA-certified referees to operate the VAR, with female referee Diana Chikotesha being the only exception having previously experienced its usage at the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations and Janny Sikazwe having retired as the reason why the association appointed foreign referees solely for that final.