Registration for the world’s biggest Under 12 football
tournament, the Danone Nations Cup, is open and the South African Schools
Football Association (SASFA) and Danone are encouraging all primary schools in
the country to enter. The prize: a trip to London to participate in the
World Finals and get to play before French ex national player, Zinadine Zidane.
South Africa has been participating in the Danone Nations Cup World
Finals since its inception in 2000 and holds the record as the only country to
have won the tournament three times: 2003, 2007 and 2009.
Registration for 2013 closes on 15 February and the competition start
at Cluster level on 18 February. The Cluster winners then compete in the
Regional finals culminating in the nine provincial winners playing in the
National finals to determine the school that will represent South Africa at the
World Finals.
2012 champions, Sinamova Primary School from KwaZulu-Natal will be
entering again this year: “Against all odds we won the 2012 National
Finals and went to Warsaw, Poland, to play in the World Finals, which was a
life-changing experience for our boys,” said coach, Khonza Khoane. “Every
player has come back a better footballer due to watching how other countries
play and learning from them. And then there were the friends the players
made as well. I have also noted a dramatic change in the way the players are
approaching their school work as that one trip has alerted them to the many
opportunities out there and through education they know that they can achieve
their dreams.”
But there is more to the tournament than football. “There
are many facets to the Danone Nations Cup,” explains Chantel Ehlers,
Communications Specialist, Danone Southern Africa. “Groupe Danone has
built the tournament on four fundamental pillars: fair play, openness,
accessibility and passion for the game and uses football as an important
platform to bring health through sport to as many kids as possible. We
promote healthy habits and encourage the youth to believe in their
dreams.”
Many of
the teams that participate in the World Finals each year are drawn from
football programmes that operate in distressed areas and from social
development initiatives that use football as a vehicle to uplift young people.
The
Danone Nations Cup is an international human adventure involving 2, 5 million
kids from approximately 40 countries every year. Since its inception in 2000
the Danone Nations Cup has touched 25 million people around the world.
To enter the competition schools
must contact the national coordinator at SASFA, Mr Themba Tshabalala on
011 567 2822, who will direct them on registration forms, rules and
regulations etc alternatively they can visit the facebook page: Danone Nations
Cup South Africa or URL: www.facebook.com/dncsouthafrica
and download all the necessary documents.
About Danone
Danone Southern
Africa is part of the Danone Group, one of the fastest-growing food companies
in the world. Danone is present in over 120 countries across all
continents. With 160 plants and around 100,000 employees, the Danone Group is
the number one worldwide for Fresh Dairy Products. Danone’s mission is to bring
health through food to as many people as possible.
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