South
Africa has been participating in the Danone Nations Cup World Finals since its
inception in 2000 and holds the record as the only country to have won the
tournament three times: 2003, 2007 and
2009.
Registration
for 2013 closes on 15 February and the competition start at Cluster level on 18
February. The Cluster winners then
compete in the Regional finals culminating in the nine provincial winners
playing in the National finals to determine the school that will represent
South Africa at the World Finals.
2012
champions, Sinamova Primary School from KwaZulu-Natal will be entering again
this year: “Against all odds we won the
2012 National Finals and went to Warsaw, Poland, to play in the World Finals,
which was a life-changing experience for our boys,” said coach, Khonza Khoane.
“Every player has come back a better footballer due to watching how other
countries play and learning from them.
And then there were the friends the players made as well. I have also
noted a dramatic change in the way the players are approaching their school
work as that one trip has alerted them to the many opportunities out there and
through education they know that they can achieve their dreams.”
But
there is more to the tournament than football.
“There are many facets to the Danone Nations Cup,” explains Chantel Ehlers,
Communications Specialist, Danone Southern Africa. “Groupe Danone has built the tournament on
four fundamental pillars: fair play,
openness, accessibility and passion for the game and uses football as an
important platform to bring health through sport to as many kids as
possible. We promote healthy habits and
encourage the youth to believe in their dreams.”
Many
of the teams that participate in the World Finals each year are drawn from
football programmes that operate in distressed areas and from social
development initiatives that use football as a vehicle to uplift young people.
The
Danone Nations Cup is an international human adventure involving 2, 5 million
kids from approximately 40 countries every year. Since its inception in 2000
the Danone Nations Cup has touched 25 million people around the world.
To
enter the competition schools must contact the national coordinator at SASFA, Mr.
Themba Tshabalala on 011 567 2822,
who will direct them on registration forms, rules and regulations etc
alternatively they can visit the facebook page: Danone Nations Cup South Africa
or URL: www.facebook.com/dncsouthafrica
and download all the necessary documents.
