Future Champions Tournaments

Preliminary Qualifying Tournaments

What’s it about?

Open to sixteen of the top high school football teams in the province, the Future Champions Gauteng Schools Cup gives teams an opportunity to compete for a place in the Gauteng Cup. It kicks off the preliminary stages towards the Future Champions U17 International Tournament and has been used as a powerful platform for the Department of Education and Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation in Gauteng.

The next stage of competition is the Future Champions Gauteng Cup, including Premier Soccer League U17 clubs. This provincial tournament has become a widely respected event for youth football in the country. Teams compete for a chance to represent Gauteng and South Africa in the Future Champions International, using all three stages of the Future Champions Gauteng as a key part of their development training.

What have we achieved?

The Future Champions Gauteng continues to expand each year, with the province giving an excellent account of itself. All who seek to improve the face of football in Gauteng are impacted by the scope of this project, as it improves the lives of countless South Africans and contributes to numerous sectors of the economy.

The Future Champions Gauteng inspires players, coaches, teachers, students and volunteers to envision new goals of achievement. And in a continuation of the precedent set during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it brings in hundreds of people from across the globe that return to their countries with a deep appreciation of South Africa.

  • 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