adminCoca-Cola brand, have partnered NASH for the past 24 years, in a dream marriage that has nurtured some of the best players to emerge in this country.
Last year at the boys’ COPA Coca-Cola Under-16 tournament, one of the stars who was part of historic tour in England at Chelsea, Walter Musona, was recently in South Africa for trials at Ajax Cape Town.
Manunure High School from Kwekwe are the defending champions in the COPA Coca-Cola Under-16 boys’ category after winning the tournament at Marondera High last year.
Last year saw the birth of the COPA Coca-Cola Under-20 girls’ tournament.
The national finals took place at Gifford High in Bulawayo and Vainona from Harare were crowned the inaugural winners.
NASH Head in Charge of Soccer National, Albert Mucheka, yesterday announced the dates for the launch of this year’ edition and the dates for the tournament.
As per tradition, the launch of the COPA Coca-Cola soccer tournament is held at the school of the defending champions.
The launch for both the boys’ and girls’ tournaments takes place on June 8 at Manunure High in Kwekwe.
The district competitions begins on June 1 across the country with the provincial finals bursting into life on the weekend of July 13 across all 10 provinces.
The national finals are slated for July 27-29 at Mosi-a-Tunya in Victoria Falls for both boys and girls.
Mucheka praised Coca-Cola for their continued support.
“I want to salute the sponsors Coca-Cola by leading by example as they have been investing in junior football in the country for the past 24 years.
“The sponsors went a step further when selected players from last year’ tournament were given a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go for a training camp in London at Chelsea.
“That trip gave them a lot of exposure,” Mucheka said.
Since this COPA Coca-Cola schools soccer tournament is a developmental programme, NASH asked Coca-Cola if they could sponsor the girls’ Under-17 competition.
Online Reporter