Champions Call documentary launched in Bryanston
The documentary honours the fans who changed SA football.
Carling Black Label is handing the spotlight back to the people who shaped one of South Africa’s most unusual football innovations: the ‘champion fans’.
Champions Call, a two-part documentary launched on November 20 in Bryanston, is to air on SABC 1 on November 22 and 29, and traces the 14-year journey of the Carling Black Label Cup, a tournament that rewrote the rules of fan participation.
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When the Cup debuted, it didn’t just bring Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates together for a pre-season showdown. It gave supporters unprecedented power – Fans picked the starting lineups and made the first substitutions.
Two supporters even led the teams as ‘Consumer Coaches’, stepping into roles usually reserved for professionals.
Carling Black Label brand director Kerryn Greanleaf calls it a true game changer, and the documentary digs into stories that prove the point.
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One of the most striking is that of Chief Micho Nkoko, a schoolteacher whose 2017 coaching opportunity in the Cup set him on a real coaching path.
He earned his badges, took charge of an amateur side, and eventually reached a national cup tournament.
The film also looks at how the Cup evolved.
In 2022, fans chose the four participating teams. In 2023, the event became a showcase of South African talent, with an All-Star squad taking on the Carling Knockout champions.
The documentary traces these shifts through the voices of people who helped build the Cup’s legacy, including Jessica Motaung, Bernard Parker, Itumeleng Khune, Steve Komphela, and match official Victor Hlongwane.
Director Valentino Mathibela said the project is about more than football. It’s about access, bringing supporters into spaces they were never allowed before.
She describes the film as a record of loyalty, dreams coming true, and the moment armchair critics finally had a real say.
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