FC Nania and Gaborone Young Zebras join the 2012 Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament

Johannesburg, Sunday, 11 March 2012 – The 2012 Future Champions Gauteng features some of the best Under-17 club sides from around the world and there is a strong African flavor to the prestigious junior tournament this year.

The African continent is well-known for producing top international talents who grace some of the best Leagues in the world. And this year we could see some of the future stars of tomorrow as Ghana’s FC Nania and Botswana’s Gaborone Young Zebras compete at the 2012 Future Champions Gauteng tournament.

They will join the already announced sides of New England Revolution (USA) and Nacional (Uruguay) in a 12-strong field for this year’s event, which is brought by the Gauteng Provincial Government.

FC Nania are owned and coached by Ghanaian legend Abedi Pele, who is one of the best players ever to come out of the African continent. The former Black Stars international had a highly successful career in France, most notably with Marseille, who he helped to the 1993 European Cup trophy.

He was named African Player of the Year three times in a row between 1991 and 1993, and also helped Ghana to success in the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations. His sons, Andre and Jordan Ayew, are current Black Stars players.

FC Nania was formed in 1998 and although they currently compete in the second-tier of Ghanaian football, they created history in 2011 by becoming the first lower league side from that country to win the Ghana FA Cup when they beat giants Asante Kotoko in the final.

“We are grateful to the Gauteng Provincial Government for inviting us to be part of this years’ Future Champions Gauteng tournament in South Africa. We hope this tournament will afford us the opportunity to showcase our talent and will lead to a long and fruitful relationship with Future Champions Gauteng and South Africa as a whole,†says Isaac Ashong, FC Nania.

Returning to the Future Champions Gauteng competition in 2012 will be Botswana side Gaborone Young Zebras, who competed last year and finished eighth in the rankings.

Botswana football in general has seen a resurgence in recent years and in 2012 they qualified for their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Young Zebras performed admirably last year, with star man Mathews Moruti among the leading goal scorers, and they will be hoping to build on that performance in 2012.

“We at the Botswana Football Association are very excited about the trip to Gauteng, South Africa. This provides our young football players with an opportunity to pit their strengths against their peers. We would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to the organizers for this phenomenal initiative.†says Mr Sonnyboy Sethibe, Botswana Football Association.

The Future Champions Gauteng tournament will begin with a group stage, with each of the 12 participating teams divided into four groups of three. Each team will play every other team within the group, plus one crossover game with a team from another group.

The group stage matches will take place from Monday, March 26 to Wednesday, March 28, with one game each day. The play-offs and placing games are scheduled for Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31.

The field of 12 teams for this year’s event will consist of eight international sides and four teams from South Africa to be decided following the Future Champions Gauteng Cup on 17 and 18 March.

  • 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