The Gauteng province will conclude this year’s COPA Coca-Cola® Provincial Finals on Saturday, 7 September at the Mehlareng Stadium in the heart of Tembisa.
Since kicking off in Western Cape two months ago, the globally acclaimed youth competition has travelled the lengths and breaths of the country, affording aspiring footballers an opportunity to showcase their talent.
As expected, the standard of the competition has increased tremendously, with each province producing a new champion this year.
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The Gauteng province will see reigning champions, Clapham High School aiming to defend their title against some of the best performing schools from the eight Gauteng regions. The Tshwane based school has enjoyed success in the tournament over the years with the most recent being their impressive triumph at last year’s COPA Coca-Cola® National Finals in Port Elizabeth.
COPA Coca-Cola® graduate, Khulekani Kubheka who won the tournament with the defending champions in 2014, said he was looking forward to seeing how the standard of school’s football in Gauteng has improved since graduating from the tournament five years ago.
“I remember how competitive this stage of the competition was. Even though we advanced further, getting out of this stage of the competition required us to push ourselves to the limit. I believe the standard has improved from the last time I played and thanks to Coca-Cola® more talent will be unearthed through this tournament,” said Kubheka.
The best performing players will have the opportunity of being scouted for this year’s COPA Coca-Cola® Future Stars camp by tournament scouts, Jabulani Mendu, Simba Marumo and Selekedi Mogale.
The three scouts have been travelling to each province, in search of raw talent to be polished at a later stage through the COPA Coca-Cola® Future Stars camp which will be held for a week in Pretoria.
As in other provinces, popular hip-hop artist, DJ Speedsta will be in attendance to entertain the fans. The award-winning DJ will also be collecting the final sound bites to include in this year’s COPA Coca-Cola® anthem titled “Champions”. The COPA Coca-Cola has been composed to encourage teenagers to realise their dreams and see themselves as champions.
The winner from this weekend will join the rest of the schools that have secured their places in this year’s COPA Coca-Cola® National Finals, set to take place in Durban between 19 and 21 September at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi.
Gauteng Schools competing this weekend:
SCHOOLREGION
Phafogang Secondary SchoolJohannesburg
Robinhood High SchoolJohannesburg
Clapham High SchoolTshwane
Ephes Mamkeli High SchoolEkurhuleni
School of Excellence Ekurhuleni
Mohloli Secondary SchoolSedibeng
General Smuts High SchoolSedibeng
COPA Coca-Cola® National Finals qualified schools:
SCHOOLPROVINCE
Portland High SchoolWestern Cape
Ndzondelelo High SchoolEastern Cape
Northern Cape Theron High School
Mpumalanga Chief Jerry Nkosi Secondary School
LimpopoNorthern Academy High School
North West Botshabelo Secondary School
KwaZulu-NatalMasihambisane High School
Free StateDr Reginald Cingo High School
Gauteng TBC
