22 Young players selected for further training and trials

Uitenhage – Following an action-packed day of soccer at Volkswagen Group South Africa’s (VWSA) PeoplePavilion on Saturday, 22 June a team of promising young players from Uitenhage and surrounding areas has been selected for further training and development – with the chance to compete in the national VW Junior Masters tournament.

The VW Junior Masters tournament is a bi-annual youth soccer event, where teams representing various Volkswagen dealerships vie for a chance to compete at international level. This year’s national tournament will be held in Johannesburg from 5 to 7 December.

Teams are usually selected by the dealerships they represent, but the Volkswagen Market Square Dealership in Uitenhage opted for a different approach: handpicking their team through the 24-team soccer tournament held this past weekend.

The final of the tournament saw Young Tigers and City Style, both teams from KwaNobuhle, go head to head for the title of champions, with Young Tigers claiming a 2-1 victory. Following the tournament, 22 boys from various teams were selected based on their performance.

Martin Barnard, VW Market Square Dealer-Principal, said: “The quality of the players was amazing and the scouts had a huge task identifying the players for the preliminary team. We chose this approach to give everyone a fair opportunity to be a part of the team, instead of simply choosing any team from a soccer club.”

These boys will undergo further training and trials, after which 14 players will be selected to represent Market Square at the national event. Here they could earn a spot at the prestigious international Gothia Cup in Sweden next year. This year’s tournament also marks the first time that girls under 15 years can enter the VW Junior Masters, which was held for boys under the age of 12 in previous years.

“This tournament is aligned to VWSA’s commitment to promoting youth development,” said Andile Dlamini, Volkswagen Group South Africa’s Head of Group Communications.

“It offers our local youth a platform where they can showcase their talents and gain national exposure. We are also proud to have hosted this important event at our PeoplePavilion, which is a state of the art multipurpose centre built for the benefit of our employees and the community. This is a prime example of what the centre can offer the community.”