WESTERN CAPE COPA COCA-COLA PROVINCIAL FINAL WILL SEE SOME PAST WINNERS AND ONE NEW ONE COMPETING

The Western Cape will become the fifth province to identify its champion school in the under-15 OPA Coca-Cola schools football competition when its provincial playoff day takes place at the Zweleni Temba stadium in Worcester on Saturday June 9 (kickoff at 9 am).

The winners on the day will join Masibonisane High School from KwaZulu-Natal; Kabelo Secondary School from Limpopo, Are-Fadimeheng Secondary School from Northwest and Johannesburg Secondary School from Gauteng at the COPA Coca-Cola National Finals, in Johannesburg from July 12 to 14.

Among the schools that will be in action at the finals is Robinvale High School from Atlantis in the West Coast Region.

This is their sixth time year that the school is competing in the COPA Coca-Cola competition, and only the second time they have made it through top the provincial finals.

They reached this stage of the competition in2009, and were knocked out in the semifinals that year.

Their coach, Christopher Samuels, has SAFA level one ,two and three coaching certificates and is a former assistant coach at the Ajax Cape Town Development Academy before coming to the school this year.

He is confident that the team is well prepared for the provincial finals and believes the team captain and striker, Reagen De Vos, is going to do well for them.

“Reagen reads the game well and is a good team motivator. He has an accurate shot and has been part of the Ajax development programme for two years,” Samuels says.

Reagen De Vos says he is happy his team will be playing in the provincial finals because this will give him the opportunity to play against other schools around the province. He sees this as a great platform to meet other inspiring young footballers and he hopes they will learn a lot from one another.

Lukhanyo Primary School from Zwekihle in the Overberg Region are participating in the COPA Coca-Cola for the first time.

Their coach, Michael Manqoba, has been with the team since 2002 and is the sports coordinator at the school.“I am very excited to finally represent his region in the provincial finals because we never played in a tournament of this calibre before and it will be a great experience for the team since they have always only been exposed to playing the schools in our region before,” he says.

Lukhanyo’s goalkeeper, Esihle Bhula is a brilliant shot stopper and distributor and he is going to play a big role in the provincial finals, Manqoba believes.

“Another key player for us will be Odwa Tshisa, a midfielder who reads the game well and is an accurate passer of the ball.”

The schools playing in the Western Cape COPA Coca-Cola provincial finals are: Beaufort West Secondary School (Karoo Region), Imozamoyethu Secondary School (Eden Region), Lukhanyo Primary School (Overberg Region), Robinvale High School (West Coast Region).

The schools that will represent the Winelands Cape Town regions still have to be decided

About COPA Coca-Cola:

         Copa Coca-Cola is run under the auspices of the South African Schools Football Association (SASFA)

·         Coca-Cola started sponsoring Coca-Cola Football Stars in 2005.

·         Between 2005 and 2008 a TV reality element was introduced aimed at finding the top 18 players who would go on to compete internationally.  To keep interests high an elimination process was brought in to reduce players from approximately 70 down to 18 and the public witnessed the trials and tribulations that went into becoming a top football player.

·         In 2009 and 2010 the name changed to bring the tournament in line with Coca-Cola’s global youth strategy to COPA Coca-Cola.  The aim of the tournament remained the same i.e. to look for the top Under-19 school in the country and find the top 18 players who then competed against approximately 13 other African schools in the Copa Coca-Cola finals. 

·         In 2012 COPA Coca-Cola became an Under 15 tournament to align with the Copa Coca-Cola globally. 

·         The tournament starts off at Cluster level (this level is now complete as it happened in January)

·         Regional winners then compete in the Provincial Finals

·         Provincial winners then compete in the National Finals taking place from the 3^rd – 7^th July.