Nedbank Cup to unearth more talented players

Speaking at the launch of the seventh edition of the Nedbank Cup, the bank’s Sydney Mbhele said the initiative would continue this year and those players unearthed by the programme would once again be given the opportunity to play the winners of this year’s Nedbank Cup.

Mbhele said they would once again scout for raw talent in the remote corners of South Africa’s nine provinces. “We want to make make things happen again for the talented soccer players out there who have never been recognised or given an opportunity to showcase their skills, and probably end up playing for the Premier Soccer League teams as well,” Mbhele said.

He said more than half of the 23 players assembled for the previous Ke Yona Team had since been snapped up by various premiership clubs and other lower division sides. Some of the clubs that have signed players include Orlando Pirates and Platinum Stars.

“Nobody else has come up with an initiative quite like this,” said former Ke Yona Team member Kyle Davies who has signed for Orlando Pirates.

“It is something that players from all over the country look out for, because we know it is not easy to make it into the professional ranks.”

The Nedbank Cup Goals4Goals campaign is also on-going. This initiative involves the bank donating money for every goal scored in the tournament and this year stands at a whopping R10 000 per goal scored.

In conjunction with the Sports Trust, the campaign has contributed to supplying soccer kits to 100 school teams. Also, the top goal scorer in each round of the tournament will win R10 000, plus R10 000 and a soccer kit for a school team of his choice anywhere in the country.