Schools Confederations Cup national

The players, however, won't be the millionaire superstar footballers from La Liga, Serie A and the English Premier League, but ‘Torres', ‘Casillas', ‘Kaka' and ‘Gattuso' will this weekend come from the likes of Mafikeng, Kimberley, Brits, Kuils River, Vryheid, Waterberg and the OR Tambo District.

The national finals of the “Schools Confederations Cup” will be held over two days at Emmarentia's Marks Park Sports Club, starting at 8am tomorrow, Friday 15 May 2009, and culminating with the final matches of the tournament from 8am-4pm on Saturday 16 May 2009.

The tournament is part of the ‘My 2010 School Adventure' campaign, a partnership between the Department of Education, the Department of Sport and Recreation and the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee (OC), supported by FIFA Partner adidas.

The campaign is divided into development, education and participation pillars and had schools in all nine South African provinces ‘adopt' one of the eight participating FIFA Confederations Cup countries, learning about their culture, language, football and also participating in the hotly-contested Schools Confederations Cup competition.

This weekend's finals are a culmination of a tournament which saw 8 349 schools from 81 districts in all nine provinces competing in district, regional and then provincial finals - with all nine provinces producing four finalists in the girls' and boys' under 14 and under 18.

FIFA Partners adidas sponsored the playing kit and equipment for all 36 participating teams, with the four winning teams at the end of the tournament each receiving 20 tickets each, courtesy of the OC and the Departments of Education and Sports and Recreation to FIFA Confederations Cup matches between New Zealand and Spain, Egypt versus Italy, USA versus Brazil and Spain against South Africa.

The campaign aims to encourage both participation in football at school level, as well as enhancing education among learners, using the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ as platforms to do this.

For the ‘My 2010 School Adventure' campaign stakeholders it is about ensuring that the country's future - its hundreds of thousands of learners and educators around the country - benefit from South Africa's staging of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

“Sport plays a very important role in shaping the developing minds of our youth. It further equips them with a number of skills that they need in order to do well in their areas of participation. School sport should offer all learners an opportunity to learn the values of respect, trust, responsibility, fair play and understanding. Our country needs young women and men who will compete and excel in the local and international stages and be good ambassadors of our country,” said South African Government Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, whose department has been at the forefront of the campaign.

“The campaign present our scholars with a chance to become actively involved in the build up to the major soccer events, to be hosted by our country, and we trust that their aspirations on the sport and academic fronts will be taken to new heights,” said the Deputy Minister of Sport and Recreation, Mr Gert Oosthuizen

“South Africa's hosting of the FIFA Confederations Cup and the FIFA World Cup is not just about providing the stadiums and the hotels for the teams that qualify. It is about the youth of our country. It is about building the fields, the training grounds and the stadiums that they deserve, so that they are equipped to go on to compete with the best in the world. It is also about giving them the levels of coaching that they need to excel and about giving them opportunities like this to get a sense of the excitement of what it means to be the centre of the football world,” added the OC's CEO Dr Danny Jordaan

“When the Organising Committee, Department of Education and Department of Sports and Recreation approached us to sponsor this tournament, we did not think twice because their objectives were aligned with ours as a FIFA sponsor of more than 35 years. As partners we all aim to mobilise our young people and to promote mass participation of learners around the legacy themes of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in music, arts, cultural activities and football,” said adidas public relations manager, Zobuzwe Ngobese on the multi-faceted My 2010 Schools campaign.