AmaTuesdayz varsity league kicks off
JOBURG - The excitement that accompanies varsity football returns to tertiary institutions on 10 March when the 2015 University Sports South Africa (USSA) Gauteng Football League kicks off.
The excitement that accompanies varsity football returns to tertiary institutions on 10 March when the 2015 University Sports South Africa (USSA) Gauteng Football League kicks off.
The Gauteng league plays on Tuesdays hence it has been nicknamed AmaTuesdayz. This will mark the 7th anniversary of the league which will be a build-up to the league finals to be hosted by Tshwane on 3 October, with the national championships in the Free State on 30 November to 4 December.
Before 2009, the qualifiers were played over the weekend and the AmaTuesdayz has brought excitement and flair to varsity football across Gauteng. Twelve varsities compete in this year’s league and these include the University of Pretoria, TUT Pretoria, Sefako Makgatho University (formerly Medunsa), TUT Soshanguve, CIDA City Campus, Vaal University of Technology, University of Johannesburg, Varsity College, North West University’s Vaal campus, Monash University, Midrand Graduate Institute and the University of the Witwatersrand.
The top three teams of the Gauteng league join other provincial top three teams in the national USSA football championships. TUT Pretoria begins this year’s Gauteng campaign as the national USSA football champions in the women’s section, while the University of Pretoria are the defending champions in the men’s section.
The Gauteng league has had a number of players progressing to Banyana Banyana and also in the men’s sections moving to Premier Soccer League clubs, such as Nicholas Mynhardt, Lehlohonolo Majoro, Tefu Mashamaite, Siyabonga Nhlapho and Jerry Nkoana.
This year marks an important year for most student players who will be selected for the USSA national teams, both men and women, as they will go to the World Universiade 2015 in Gwangju, South Korea, from 2 to 13 July. In 2013, the women USSA national team were placed 4th in the World Universiade.
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