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In case you are still in the dark!!! The much anticipated 19th Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge tournament will kick-off starting from today at the newly revamped Shapa Soweto, formerly known as The Nike Football Centre inKlipspruit, Soweto.
This favourite annual football tourney dubbed as a football festival will feature men’s and women’s categories and is regarded as the mother of all tournaments in the township because of the capacity crowd and the exciting pulsating football displayed.
At the launch in Sandton last week, organizers revealed and reiterated the tournament was a collaboration between Discovery and the South African Football Association (SAFA).
They described the tourney as one of its kind football festival that sets the township alight annually and were anticipating 2800 players participating with their respective clubs.
It was also confirmed during the draw atleast 48 teams will be made of senior men’s teams.
The 19th edition of the Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge is expected to run from 1-23 December 2022 and a substantial amount of money and a coveted trophy will be awarded to the winners.
“This grassroots diski tournament was established in 2002, and strategically aligns with Discovery’s core purpose of making people healthier, enhancing, and protecting their lives,” said, Deon Curtis, Senior Marketing Manager for Sponsorships Marketing at Discovery.
“After a pause in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, the tournament returned last year, and although there were some challenges; the Omicron Variant and rising number of cases then, it was a success. We are excited that this year will also go ahead and expect minimal to no disruptions, but for the games to get going in a safe space for everyone, considering that the pandemic is still with us,” said Curtis.
Curtis is on record arguing, Discovery continues to invest in school sports and soccer at grassroots levels and this tournament also proves that communities can get active in the most accessible way, making exercise fun and engaging.
Phil Mogodi, SAFA JohannesburgPresident ,warmly welcomed fans from far and wide to attend and follow in the footsteps of footballers Sibusiso Vilakazi, Percy Tau, Portia Modise, Lyle Foster, Ronwen Williams, Andile Dlamini and many more.
Adding the impact of this tournament extends far beyond the football fields;
“Participating in a tournament of this nature is unquantifiable and an absolute essential to any serious footballer in my opinion. It’s an important part of a players journey – growing in leaps and bounds, players are more mature, skilled, motivated and determined on the other side of this tournament.”
DID YOU KNOW?
- This tournament is played is played in a round robin format and knock out stages starts from quarterfinals.
- Discovery Limited is a South African-founded financial services organisation that operates in the healthcare, life assurance, short-term insurance, banking, savings and investment and wellness markets.
- Since inception in 1992, Discovery has been guided by a clear core purpose – to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. This has manifested in its globally recognised Vitality Shared-Value insurance model, active in 40 markets, impacting 40 million lives. The model is exported and scaled through the Global Vitality Network, an alliance of some of the largest insurers across key markets including AIA (Asia), Ping An (China), Generali (Europe), Sumitomo (Japan), John Hancock (US), Manulife (Canada) and Vitality Life & Health (UK, wholly owned). Discovery trades on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange as DSY. Follow us on Twitter @Discovery_SA
- The Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge plays an important role in developing and growing soccer players within the Soweto community.
- The tournament encourages members of the community to lead healthier, more active lives. The tournament started in 2002 and has been able to grow year on year, in exposure and player participation.
- The tournament was put on hold in 2020 due to strict COVID-19 restrictions.
- A TOTAL OF 48 MEN’S TEAMS HAVE CONFIRMED THEIR REGISTRATION.
