10 July 2019 – The South African Indoor Football Association (SAIFA) will host a 4-Nations Tournament from tonight (Wednesday, 10 July 2019) to Sunday 14 July 2019.

The competition takes place at the Old Mutual Hall, Wits University in Johannesburg.

South Africa will host Mozambique, Egypt and Zambia in what promises to be an exciting tournament for indoor football, as SAFA and SAIFA try to grow the sport on the African continent.

The opening match of the tournament will see Egypt take on Mozambique at 16h30, with hosts South Africa facing neighbours Zambia at 19h00.

Head coach of the Egyptian National Futsal Team, Hesam Saleh, thanked South Africa for another invite, and touched on the fact that they are happy to be recognized as a Futsal country.

“We are happy to be amongst some of the best teams here on the continent. We are rebuilding and bringing in a younger generation of players to represent us as we try to create awareness of this entertaining sport,” said ????.

“After our bronze medal win at the 2016 AFCON, we have brought in new U20 players. Our preparations for the 2022 AFCON qualifiers have been going very well – we have had a few friendly matches and this tournament will assist us very much in ensuring that we qualify for Morocco 2022.”

Zambia congratulated the South African Football Association (SAFA) and SAIFA for organizing this tournament.

“It is always very difficult for Futsal teams to get any competitions on the continent because people don’t have awareness of this game and we lack support from our Football Associations. In Zambia, Futsal is only played in Lusaka and this makes it very difficult for us to get the nation behind the team, because people don’t know about the sport,” said Coach Brian Kunsanama.

“We have brought a group of youth and experience to this tournament – some players participated in the 2016 AFCON here in SA and a few come from our U-17 and U-20 squads. We are here to build a team that can qualify for the next AFCON and hopefully make the Zambian nation proud.”

Mozambique has already qualified for the 2022 FUTSAL African Cup of Nations, but are happy to be here as part of their preprations for the tournament.

Mozambique Coach Naymo Abdul had this to say:“We are very happy to be back in South Africa as we prepare for the next FUTSAL AFCON. We are here to compete with very strong teams and believe that we can help each other become even better.”

Head coach of the host nation, Kasaval Naidoo, thanked SAFA and SAIFA for making sure this tournament goes ahead.

“We are excited to be playing in this tournament. We are very fortunate to have a national league that we can select national team players from. Although every team is here to compete and win the tournament, I believe we have to use this competition to advertise the game and showcase our ability as African countries,” said Naidoo.

SAIFA President Mr Poobalan Govindasamy, who is also a SAFA NEC member, expressed his delight ahead of the start of the tournament.

“We are very excited about this four nation’s tournament and believe that we will deliver one of the best events ever. We have invited some of the most experienced African countries in Futsal in the effort to grow this sport, while preparing our South African National Futsal team for the qualifying fixtures against Mauritius between 21stand 30thof October 2019,” said Govindasamy.

“We urge people to come in numbers to see the quality of this ever growing sport. Entrance is free to all supporters.

 

The fixtures are as follows:

 

DATE HOME TEAM AWAY TEAM TIME
Wednesday –  10 July 2019 Mozambique           vs       Egypt 16h30
Wednesday –  10 July 2019 South Africa             vs       Zambia 19h00
Friday – 12 July 2019 Zambia                      vs       Egypt 18h00
Friday – 12 July 2019 South Africa             vs       Mozambique 20h30
Sunday – 14 July 2019 Mozambique           vs        Zambia 15h00
Sunday – 14 July 2019 South Africa             vs        Egypt 17h30

 

Ends.

Media Officer
Namhla Mphelo
Email: namhla.mphelo@safa.net
Mobile: +27 79 694 1243
Website: www.www.safa.net