The tournament, which features nine provincial teams and three invitational clubs, will be played in Cape Town from 12 – 18 December 2016.

The tournament, which features nine provincial teams and three invitational clubs, will be played in Cape Town from 12 – 18 December 2016.

The 2nd edition of the SAFA/Burger King u19 Men’s Championship was launched in Cape on Thursday, 24 November 2016.

The final will take place at the Phillipi Stadium in the Mother City.

The invitational teams are Cape Town City, Ajax Cape Town and a third which will be announced in the next few days.

The tournament was first played in April 2014 in Bloemfontein where Supersport United emerged as the eventual winners after beating Ajax Cape Town 4-1 on penalties.

Players like Jody February – Ajax Cape Town and SA u23, as well as Denwin Farmer – Supersport United and SA u23, have featured in the tournament.

Present at the launch was the President of SAFA Cape Town and also National Executive Committee member Norman Arendse, who said it is such tournament that will see South Africa grow in Football.

“We would like to thank Burger Kind for their investment and their passion in the game of football because this partnership with SAFA is for a national course. Players have graduated from Amajita (SA u20) to Bafana Bafana through this tournament which helps in giving us the best players to represent the country as they have come through the right system,” said Arendse, speaking on behalf of the SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan.

“Many coaches have bemoaned lack of structure and Burger King has stepped in to help, and this is in line with SAFA’s Vision 2022. As SAFA, we are looking forward to hosting this tournament. Good luck to all the teams.”

Former Bafana Bafana midfielder Helman Mkhalele, was the guest speaker and applauded the organisers of the tournament for the initiative.

“Tournaments like these make sure that talent is unearthed at an early age, which helps strengthen the national teams all the way to Bafana Bafana. I am a product of unstructured football but I was lucky to make it to the top, so these players have a chance to make their mark with a systematic approach to football development,” said Mkhalele.
“The tournament is a clear indication that we are on the right track to not only produce a team that will participate in major tournaments but also do well there.”

After that successful tournament in 2014, Burger King extended their partnership with SAFA in September 2015 to cover the South African u20 Men’s National Team (Amajita) and also became a supplier to Bafana Bafana.

The company also played a leading role, when they assisted with preparations for the South African u17 Men’s National Team’s (Amajimbos) who qualified for the u17 FIFA World Cup, Chile 2015 tournament.

“Burger King is about community upliftment and we are committed to building a strong national team for the good of the country. We are happy to be associated with SAFA on this mission of growing our football. We are delighted to be a part of this great venture,” said Rozanna Kaden from Burger King.

The teams are expected in Cape Town on Monday, 12 December.


Rules:
  • The age cut off for players to qualify for this tournament will be players born on or after 1 January 1999
  • The SAFA U19 Championship match shall be for the duration of two (2) equal periods of thirty five (35) minutes with an interval of ten (10) minutes
  • Matches will be played on a single round basis, with each team in each group playing each other once (total of 3 matches per team)
  • During the knock-out stages when the score is a draw, then penalties shall be taken to determine the winner. (There shall be no Extra Time Played)
  • The teams that will qualify for the Semi Finals will be:
    1. The 3 teams that are Group winners by virtue of accumulating the most points
    2. The best runner-up from the 3 groups
    3. In the event of equality of points in the group stages, the teams will be separated as follows:
      • Goal Difference
      • Goals Scored
      • If still equal after the goal tally, the Group winner / best runner-up shall be determined by a once-off match which shall be decided on penalties if the score is still tied after seventy (70) minutes

Group A Group B Group C
Invitational 3 Ajax Cape Town Cape Town City
KwaZulu Natal Eastern Cape Mpumalanga
Western Cape Free State North West
Limpopo Gauteng Northern Cape

FIXTURES:

DAY 2 – TUESDAY, 13 DECEMBER
Invitational 3 vs Western Cape 13h30 Field A
Ajax Cape Town vs Free State 13h30 Field B
Cape Town City vs North West 13h30 Field C
KZN vs Limpopo 15h00 Field A
Eastern Cape vs Gauteng 15h00 Field B
Mpumalanga vs Northern Cape 15h00 Field C
DAY 3 – WEDNESDAY, 14 DECEMBER
KZN vs Invitational 3 13h30 Field A
Eastern Cape vs Ajax Cape Town 13h30 Field B
Mpumalanga vs Cape Town City 13h30 Field C
Limpopo vs Western Cape 15h00 Field A
Gauteng vs Free State 15h00 Field B
Northern Cape vs North West 15h00 Field C
DAY 4 – THURSDAY, 15 DECEMBER
Western Cape vs Invitational 3 11h45 Field A
Limpopo vs KZN 11h45 Field B
Free State vs Ajax Cape Town 13h45 Field B
Gauteng vs Eastern Cape 13h45 Field C
North West vs Cape Town City 15h45 Field C
Northern Cape vs Mpumalanga 15h45 Field A
We will do a draw after the group stage matches to ensure that the best 2nd placed team does not play the winner of the same group – so two bowls, 1 with the teams from the same group and 1 with the winners of the other 2 groups

DAY 5 -; FRIDAY, 16 DECEMBER – KNOCKOUT STAGE
SEMI-FINAL 1
Winner Group (after draw) vs Best 2nd placed (but not from the winner group) 15h00
SEMI-FINAL 2
Winner Group (after draw) vs Winner Group (draw) 15h00
DAY 6 – SATURDAY, 17 DECEMBER
REST DAY
DAY 7 – SUNDAY, 18 DECEMBER: PHILLIPI STADIUM
3rd/4th Place Play Off 11h15
FINAL 15h00