Saki West, USYSA Select and 2010 champions Shandong Luneng arrive for the 2014 Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament

Johannesburg, Sunday, 23rd March 2014 – The 2010 champions, Shandon Luneng, have arrived in Mzansi, alongside two new entrants into the Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament, USYSA Select and Nigeria’s Saki West, all with the potential to showcase some excellent skill at the tournament.

Shatong

Nigerian side Saki West brings with them all the promise of powerful, skillful players that have emerged from the current African champion nation over the last few decades.

Nigerian players are spread throughout the world, sought for their physical presence and technical ability, and Saki West will give us a glimpse of the next generation of stars from that country.

The academy team hails from the town of Saki in the Oyo State which lies to the west of the country along the border with Benin.

They will hope to improve on the showing of last year’s entrants from Nigeria, Bridge Boys, who finished a credible eighth in the competition.

Saki West have been drawn alongside defending champions Club Tijuana of Mexico, Qatar’s Aspire Academy and South African school Sunward Park High.

Joining them in the competition will be a select team from the United States Youth Soccer Association (USYSA).

USYSA is the largest member of US Soccer, the governing body of the sport in America, and has associations in every state making up a membership of some 3-million young soccer players.

Teams play among each other in their respective states, then go forward into a regional competition and finally play-off in the US Youth Soccer National Championships.

The best of the youngsters in the Under-17 age group will be selected from this pool to represent the side at the Future Champions Gauteng, bringing together an exciting blend of America’s best talent.

They have a difficult group to contend with, which includes English Premiership side Sunderland AFC, Indian outfit Royal Wahingdoh and top local South African team Mamelodi Sundowns.

Chinese side Shandong Luneng will this year make a return to the Future Champions Gauteng international tournament for the first time since winning the competition in 2010.

Shandong Luneng were victors in 2010 when they defeated top French side Paris St Germain on penalties after the teams played to a 1-1 draw in the decider.

The club’s senior team has also enjoyed great success in recent times, winning the Chinese Super League in 1999, 2006, 2008 and 2010. They finished runners-up in 2013.

They are currently coached by the Brazilian Cuca, who took over in December last year from the experienced Serbian Radomir Antić.

Cuca is a former Brazil international who ironically also coached Clube Atletico Mineiro at a time when the club’s juniors won back-to-back titles in the Future Champions Gauteng tournament in 2011 and 2012.

There is a heavy Brazilian influence to the playing staff as well, with ex-national team striker Wagner Love perhaps the most well known.

The Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament will take place from March 24-29 at the Football Training Centre in Pimville, Soweto.

  • We had a wonderful football and cultural experience in Gauteng. The tournament and activities were very well organized and we found everyone involved extremely helpful and accommodating. We have all returned home with fantastic memories of our time in South Africa, both on and off the pitch, and have made many new friends as a result of the trip. I hope that we are invited to participate in future tournaments.

    Everton Academy Head Coach

  • The experience both on and off the field for our players during the Future Champions tournament in Gauteng was life-enriching for all those who participated. We were privileged enough to win this edition but what will be bringing us back in future is the cross-cultural education our players receive from spending time with athletes from all over the world. They are human beings before they are football players and enriching them with other cultures is as rewarding as the experience they receive on the field.

    Club Tijuana Director of Football

  • After twenty years of experiencing tournaments around the globe, Future Champions is hands down the best organized, well run International Tournament we have ever participated in. Bringing teams from dozens of different countries provided our boys exposure to cultural diversity they only read about in textbooks. It’s amazing how sport can be the cultural link that provides the opportunity to interact with each other and discover that our global community is a bit smaller than they realized. We had a football and cultural experience that will be cherished for the rest of our lives.

    Director of USYSA Select

  • For us to compete in Future Champions is much more than playing a series of matches. It is an opportunity to compete and contrast our level against the best teams from around the world and the possibility of living in another culture and environment for an unforgettable week, learning about the history of the fight for human rights.

    Director of Aspire Academy

  • The addition of a girls’ competition this year is a natural expansion for what has become a hugely popular event. Over and above the football, the players are also exposed to life-skills courses and HIV/AIDS awareness that could end up saving their lives in the future. We have had an amazing partnership with the Gauteng Province over the last decade and we thank each and every stakeholder for making the Future Champions Gauteng campaign such a huge success

    Tournament director