BLOEMFONTEIN – This year’s edition of the Le Futur Soccer Tournament was considered a success. Five boys’ teams were crowned champions in the five age groups. They gave a good account of themselves during the two-day tournament staged over the weekend of 6 and 7 December. Clubs competed for titles in the U10, U13, U15, U17, and U19 age groups.
The players of the participating teams displayed their footballing talent at Bloemfontein’s Navalsig High School’s sports grounds. The winners and runners-up, as well as third-place finishers, received gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively. The category winners took the ultimate prize that included a travelling trophy each, in addition to gold medals. Clubs competed on a round-robin basis to determine the finalists.
El Futuro and Elite Athletes Academy dominated this fifth edition of the tournament, competing in three finals.
In the U10 category, El Futuro narrowly beat Beyond Limits 1 – 0 to claim the crown. The battle for the U13 title saw Blackants Academy convincingly beat Elite Athletes Academy 2 – 0. The showdown for the U15 title between El Futuro and Elite Athletes Academy was a tough contest. The winner was decided via a penalty shootout. The two teams were deadlocked at the end of regulation time. Elite Athletes Academy managed to convert six penalties and claimed the top prize as El Futuro settled for silver after scoring five penalties, missing one. The final score was 6 – 5.
The contest for the U17 championship saw Elite Athletes Academy narrowly beat El Futuro 2 – 1 to claim the title. In the U19 category, El Futuro fought hard to overcome rivals Beyond Limits by 1 – 0.
The clubs originated from Bloemfontein, Parys, and Kimberley.
Kabelo Rapulane, tournament organiser, said the two invitational clubs from Kimberley and Parys gave a good account of themselves. These clubs made it through the group stage of the tournament organised as part of continuing football development and unearthing talent.
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