18 June 2018 – With less than a month to go before SAFA and proud sponsors, SAB kick off the highly anticipated SAB U21 National Championships, provincial squads have been hard at work in preparation for the week-long tournament.
KwaZulu-Natal has been earmarked as the hosts for this year’s edition which continues to be a breeding ground for Premier Soccer League (PSL) and National First Division (NFD) clubs.
Quality footballers such as Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Happy Jele, Andile Jali amongst thousands of other professional footballers all honed their skills in the SAB sponsored league which today boasts over 30 000 youngsters playing football on a weekly basis.
Quite recently, US based, Tyron Mondi has lit up the National Premier Soccer League Midwest Region after putting up a player of the tournament performance which saw USSA clinch the title back in 2016 in Limpopo. The speedy and skilful winger was one of the outstanding players that saw USSA clinch the title which they went on to surrender to Gauteng in last season’s edition played at the Nike Training Centre in Soweto.
Kaizer Chiefs striker, Yusuf Bunting is also a recent graduate of the National Championships where he finished as top goalscorer and player of the tournament where he helped his Gauteng side win the title.
The exact dates and venue of the championships will be communicated by SAFA in due course.
About the SAB U21 National Championships:
The SAB U21 National Championships culminates each season of SAFA’s SAB League as a showcase of the best talent that the SAB League has to offer.
A total of nine provincial squads plus an invitational team from the University Sports South Africa (USSA) is chosen to compete against each other in the week-long tournament. The 10 teams are pitted against each other in a public draw conducted by SAFA and the South African Breweries (SAB) a few weeks before the start of the tournament.
The draw sees the 10 teams grouped into two groups of five where the top two finishers from each group advance to the semi-finals to compete for a place in the finals of the competition.
The National Championships have over the years grown to be becoming a breeding ground for professional scouts and coaches.