Soccer Charity Showdown set for Tshwane

Four soccer teams from the Premier Soccer League will battle it out to raise funds for charity in the popular Charity Showdown at the Lucas ‘Masterpieces’ Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville, Pretoria on 19 July.

Featured in the pre-season spectacular will be Mamelodi Sundowns, Ajax Cape Town, University of Pretoria and recently-promoted Jomo Cosmos.

For this year’s tournament, the organisers, e.tv and OpenView HD, have partnered with the City of Tshwane for this charity fundraising initiative in honour of former President Nelson Mandela.

Last year’s tournament was staged at Bidvest Stadium with top teams such as Bloemfontein Celtic, Mpumalanga Black Aces, AmaZulu and Bidvest Wits. A whopping R250 000 was raised for The Lunchbox Fund, a charity organisation that provides a daily meal to orphaned and impoverished schoolchildren across the education sector. The money was used to provide a year’s worth of lunches to 416 pre-schoolers in various Early Childhood Development Centres in Mamelodi, Ivory Park and Braamfischer.

“We are pleased to partner with the City of Tshwane to launch yet another exciting Charity Showdown event and are grateful to unite with such great stakeholders for this year’s tournament,” said Monde Twala, managing director of e.tv channels division.

“We value the partnership with City of Tshwane and the teams that are on board. Soccer is one of the most popular sports in this country, and education is one of the most critical childhood development tools. This is why this initiative is a very fulfilling one for us.”

Twala said all the gate takings from the tournament would again be donated to fund.

“The Lunchbox Fund is thrilled to be a beneficiary of the Charity Showdown again this year,” said Sue Wildish, managing director of the fund.

“This charity tournament provides a simple but life-changing intervention that encourages children to attend school.”

Details: Andrew Ledwaba 011 537 9530; Andrew.ledwaba@etv.co.za