Mafikeng Campus hosts 2014 SAB League Championships

The 15th rendition of the SAB Soccer League Championships has taken centre stage on the NWU Mafikeng Campus. The week-long championships consisted of a total number of nine teams from different provinces and a team from University Sports South Africa (USSA), and started on 13 July 2014. The tournament is the largest grassroots football development tournament and is being administered by SAB and SAFA.

SAB Head of Sustainable Development and CSI, Muzi Chonco, expressed his full satisfaction on the first day of the tournament and was confident that this year's tournament will be even better than those of the previous years.

Scouts and ambassadors, including soccer legends such as Neil Tovey and Phil Masinga, will observe players with the hope of unearthing South Africa's future football talent. Players lucky to be selected will attend an intensive two-week training camp designed to fast-track player development through a series of seminars and training sessions. During training, the Castle Lager Super Stars XI played practice matches against top PSL teams, where they were exposed to other talent scouts.

The boys were also given a break on the third day of the championships when the SAB League Youth Diversion programme, in partnership with local NGO, Footballers 4 Life, presented a workshop on key life skills training. The workshops were facilitated by former veteran local footballers, including the legendary Silver Shabalala and Collen Tlemo, who played for Amazulu, Jomo Cosmos and Black Leopards.