The Danone Nations Cup tournament, which kicks off this weekend, has been expanded to all nine provinces and will see the participation of about 11 000 school children.
Now in its ninth year, the South African version of the competition last year partnered with the South African Schools Football Association (Sasfa) and only covered Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. The tournament has taken on a new format after years of being run by clubs.
Speaking at the launch of the tournament in Johannesburg, general manager of Danone Clover Mariano Lozano the said there had been a serious need to extend the tournament to all the country’s nine provinces.
”When we partnered with Sasfa last year we were asked why we don’t extend the competition to all the regions. And today we can proudly say we will now cover all the regions and target schools as opposed to clubs, as we did in the past. Last year we had 2 000 participants and this year should be bigger and better,” said Lozano.
Lozano stressed that the global economic meltdown ”will not have an impact on the Danone Nations Cup”.
The soccer tournament is held each year in 40 countries around the world and involves school children aged between 10 and 12. In the last edition of the club format the Soweto Panthers went on to lift the Danone Nations Cup after beating the French side 3-0 in the finals.
Last year Bree Primary School in Mayfair, west of Johannesburg, made history by becoming the first school to represent South Africa in the tournament. They defeated Sinamuva Primary School from KwaZulu-Natal 1-0 in the national finals and went on to finish ninth in France.
”The Danone Nations Cup is an amazing tournament which allows kids from all over the world to not only believe in their dreams but also live them. But Danone also uses this opportunity to educate kids on the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle and develop a good eating habits which will benefit them throughout their lives,” Lozane said.
Kicking off the tournament this year will be the Kimberly in the Northern Cape on Saturday February 14. Four schools from Upington, De Aar, Springbok and Kimberly will battle it out to represent the Northern Cape at the national finals.
Western Cape will host their provincial finals on February 28, Eastern Cape on March 7, Limpopo on March 21, North West on April 18, Free State on April 25, Gauteng on March 2 and Mpumalanga on May 16. This will be followed by the national finals, which will be held in Gauteng on May 30.
The winning school will then represent the country in Sao Paolo, Brazil, in October. This is the first time the competition will be held outside France.