The Future Players Gauteng programme heads for the Bram Fischer Sports Complex

Johannesburg, Thursday, 23rd January 2014 – The second skills tests of 2014 in the Future Players Gauteng Talent Search will take place this Saturday, 25th January 2014, after the hunt for the best young football talent in the Province returned last weekend.

The programme at the Ruimsig Stadium saw 245 learners, including 42 girls, from various schools in Johannesburg North and the surrounding areas get the opportunity to showcase their soccer skills.

It was the seventh set of trials in this year’s search and once again the standard was incredibly high. The learners were put through their paces by 12 coaches, one of them female, in five skills tests to see if they have what it takes to advance to the finals.

The next talent search event will now be held at the Bram Fischer Sports Complex in Soweto on Saturday, where learners in the Johannesburg West region will be put through their paces.

After this there will be seven more sets of trials across the province as the Future Players Gauteng Talent Search reaches fever pitch!

Aside from the football there was also an important social responsibility aspect and all learners were given a presentation by either LoveLife, South Africa’s largest national AIDS prevention, education and behavior initiative for young people, or the Grassroots organisation who were both present on the day.

Organisers of the 2014 Future Players Talent Search hope that once again this year they will see over 10 000 learners from around the Gauteng province be assessed by expert coaches to determine if they have the potential to make a professional career out of football.

The Future Players initiative, run in conjunction with the Gauteng Provincial Government, led by the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, is open to youngsters aged 13 to 16, who are assessed by the coaches over a number of disciplines.

The best youngsters from the 15 districts in Gauteng trials will be chosen for the finals to be staged at in Soweto on March 29, 2014.

  • We had a wonderful football and cultural experience in Gauteng. The tournament and activities were very well organized and we found everyone involved extremely helpful and accommodating. We have all returned home with fantastic memories of our time in South Africa, both on and off the pitch, and have made many new friends as a result of the trip. I hope that we are invited to participate in future tournaments.

    Everton Academy Head Coach

  • The experience both on and off the field for our players during the Future Champions tournament in Gauteng was life-enriching for all those who participated. We were privileged enough to win this edition but what will be bringing us back in future is the cross-cultural education our players receive from spending time with athletes from all over the world. They are human beings before they are football players and enriching them with other cultures is as rewarding as the experience they receive on the field.

    Club Tijuana Director of Football

  • After twenty years of experiencing tournaments around the globe, Future Champions is hands down the best organized, well run International Tournament we have ever participated in. Bringing teams from dozens of different countries provided our boys exposure to cultural diversity they only read about in textbooks. It’s amazing how sport can be the cultural link that provides the opportunity to interact with each other and discover that our global community is a bit smaller than they realized. We had a football and cultural experience that will be cherished for the rest of our lives.

    Director of USYSA Select

  • For us to compete in Future Champions is much more than playing a series of matches. It is an opportunity to compete and contrast our level against the best teams from around the world and the possibility of living in another culture and environment for an unforgettable week, learning about the history of the fight for human rights.

    Director of Aspire Academy

  • The addition of a girls’ competition this year is a natural expansion for what has become a hugely popular event. Over and above the football, the players are also exposed to life-skills courses and HIV/AIDS awareness that could end up saving their lives in the future. We have had an amazing partnership with the Gauteng Province over the last decade and we thank each and every stakeholder for making the Future Champions Gauteng campaign such a huge success

    Tournament director