Engen Champ of Champs launched

SuperSport United in partnership with the petroleum giant, Engen, launched a prestigious the first ever Engen Champ of Champs tournament on Tuesday afternoon. The petroleum giant’s national championships will see the five regional Engen u.17 winners, including the host club to battle for the rights to be named the best team in the country. The final tourney will take place on the weekend of the 10 to 12 October at the Nike Football Centre in Pimville, Soweto.

Matsatsantsa a Pitori’s development team will lock horns against the Africa Sports Development (ASD) academy based in Cape Town. SuperSport u.17 coach Ricardo Katza expressed his excitement on the initiative. The former Matsatsantsa player said he is hopping his team can use not only the home advantage, but also the experience of their six national team representatives to go on and lift the cup. “This is a great initiative from Engen, all these years they’ve had all these tournaments and now they have brought it all together and if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best and I think the best teams are here,” he said.

Katza, who was once a long-time serving players at United, added that the tournament was good for the country’s development and he believed it will yield a new crop of young players. “We speak about (Kaizer) Chiefs and (Orlando) Pirates and all that, but for me whichever teams are left, those are the six best teams. Obviously the standard is high, but that is good for South African football especially at 17 years of age and at SuperSport we even have 14-year-old’s playing,” said.

He also emphasised that his success at the club would be when they have six players who played in the tournament getting recognition from the national team coaches. “Success for me, for us at the club, if we lose the tournament and we have six players in the national team, it can’t compare. What we also try and do is, yes many academies have won tournaments, our goal is not only to win the tournament, but we will also want to see these players in the national team.” Katza added. Matsatsantsa’s director of football Stan Matthews said: “Winning the regional leg was great, but we have to thank our sponsors Engen for the hard work they have put in, we salute you,” he said.

Harmony Academy head coach, Pitso Mokoena, said he had no doubt his side will lift the trophy come October. The Free State outfit have seen the likes of Bloemfontein Celtic’s Lerato Manzini and Luvolwethu Mpeta come through the ranks. “We are going to win this tournament, not lose, not draw, just win,” Mokoena said. Bidvest Wits’ head coach Cesar Maphala is just as confident, explaining that opening day opponents AmaZulu can expect a big hiding. “They (AmaZulu) must expect a big hiding,” Maphala explained.

The six teams that have made it through to the finals are Bidvest Wits, AmaZulu, African Sports Development, Port Elizabeth Sundowns, Harmony Academy and hosts SuperSport United who won the Gauteng leg. “Engen is proud to be at the forefront of youth football development in the country and it is rewarding for the company to know that six young talented players who have participated in the regional rounds have been called up for national duty to represent the country.” said Brad Bergh, Engen’s group sponsorship manager. Full opening fixtures: Harmony vs PE Sundowns; Bidvest Wits vs AmaZulu; SuperSport United vs ASD.