The world’s top junior teams coming to Soweto

The best U17 teams in the world will converge in Soweto for the 2015 Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament from 23 to 28 March.

The tournament, now firmly established as a popular fixture on the global junior football calendar and in its seventh year, will once again give Gautengers a glimpse into the future stars of the world’s most beautiful game. It will be played at the Nike Football Training Centre in Pimville, Soweto.

Organised by Global Sports International, in partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Government and the City of Johannesburg, the tournament will feature five local sides and seven top teams from around the world.

International teams will comprise the likes of Brazilian side Cruzeiro, Italian Serie A club Torino, English Premiership outfit Sunderland AFC and Netherlands giants ADO Den Haag.

Coming from Africa will be Mozambique’s, Ferroviario de Maputo, K-Stars from Zambia, which are competing for a seventh time, and Oryx FC from Namibia.

The five Gauteng sides are SuperSport United, making their fourth appearance at the competition and the most of any team from South Africa, Orlando Pirates, Jomo Cosmos, University of Pretoria, and Bidvest Wits.

Wits came in as a last minute replacement following the late withdrawal of Ghanaian side, Asante Kotoko. The 12 teams will be split into four first round groups of three teams, with one of the Gauteng sides in each of those pools, along with two international entrants.

The teams play each other in a round-robin format, with the top sides in each pool advancing to the semifinals. The remaining eight teams will play off to determine positions five to 12.

Tournament director, Ray Whelan said, “The Future Champions Gauteng tournament is now firmly established on the football calendar and the standard of football has been very high over the years and continues to improve.”