Noks City Soccer Festival is back again
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Photo: Rorisang Matea
As congregations will be preparing to depart to various destinations to attend Easter weekend pilgrimage, soccer lovers will take a detour that leads to Nokaneng Stadium for the second instalment of the Noks City Soccer Festival. It is a cup competition which features 16 teams and it starts from the 7th to the 10th of April 2023.
The soccer spectacular aims to unearth talent and dish-out opportunities to youngsters including aspiring footballers from Nokaneng and other surrounding villages of Dr JS Moroka Local Municipality to fulfil their dreams of playing in professional set-ups.
Last season’s winners Rap City FC from Rapotokwane have made their intentions of defending their maiden title known as they have already affiliated. They defeated Tigers FC from Lefiswane 3 – 2 in an exciting final. They (Rap City) will also be one of the strongest teams to look out at the tournament.
Phodisho Dikobe who is the head of the organising committee says the four-day soccer challenge will be bigger and better.
“My brother, remember when we started this initiative we were not so sure of how it will be received. To this day, I am shocked that we have attracted teams even outside the radius of our local municipality,” says Dikobe.
She says the cherry on top for this year is that the prize money has increased looking at where they started and they are pleased to welcome back the recent champions of the Top 8 which was held late last year.
“In 2022 we issued out R40 000 to the winners, so for this upcoming one we thought it would be of best interest to increase the value hence we opted for an extra R10 000 to the winning team. So those are some of the changes we implemented and personally, I am glad that German Chiefs from Ga-Seabe is part of the teams that will contest for the big fish. You will vividly recall that they are the titleholders of the top 8 that took place in October,” Dikobe adds.
The official draw will be held this coming Saturday at Tileng Bar Lounge in Nokaneng. Some of the new recruits in the soccer spectacular includes, Vuka Daki FC, Wafa Wafa FC, Pinkies FC, 2nd Half, Libangeni Academy and Bana bae Rata.
One the top commentators for the tournament, Douglas Dikobe affectionately known as “32 Gig” in the football circles expresses his delight to the return of the sport event stating that this year’s edition will produce fireworks.
“Football is unpredictable, it is all about who is on form on the day and willing to progress to the next stage. I foresee other players bringing some magic in some of the encounters that will be played and I expect everyone to be on top of their game because there is a lot at stake. I also urge fans to come in numbers to support their respective clubs,” he explains.
Champions of this year’s edition will walk away a coveted R50 000, a trophy, gold medals and a soccer kit. Runner’s up will settle for silver medals, soccer kit and R20 000 cash prize. Meanwhile, 3rd and 4th placed will also score a soccer kit and R7 000 each.
