THE SECOND edition of the Thulani Biya Ncube and friends Under-14 football tournament is set for this Saturday at Gwabalanda, the organisers have confirmed.
OWn CORRESPONDENT
Gwabalanda, Luveve Juniors, Matebele Warriors from Magwegwe and Amalanda from Cowdray Park will battle it out in the tournament.
The organiser and former Highlanders goalminder Johannes Tshuma said the preparations were at an advanced stage.
“It is now all set for the tournament. Thulani will be here by Thursday (today). We have sent invitation letters to high profile people to come and witness the tournament,” he said.
Former juniors coach, the legendary Ali Baba Dube, former teammates at Highlanders Alexander Phiri, Thabani Masawi, Bekithemba Ndlovu, Gift Lunga (Jr) Dazzy Kapenya and Simon Sibanda witnessed last year’s event.
Asked about the prizes, Tshuma said Biya was the right person to answer such questions.
However, Ncube could not be reachable, but its believed that he was on his way from America.
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Ncube previously told Southern Eye Sport that for participating all teams would be awarded monetory prices, but he was not yet sure about figures.
“There will be monetory prizes for all the teams but I am not sure yet sure about the amount. For now I can confirm that the top two teams will get unifoms and medals.
“If things go well, all the teams will get uniforms.
“There will be also prizes for player of the tournament, goalkeeper of the tournament and top goalscorer,” he said.
The former Bosso defender said the tournament was a way of giving back to the community where he grew up and started the career that gave him fame.
“It’s a four-team tournament for local junior teams where I grew up. I run this project with my friends Tawanda Chipata based in America, Mlamuli Ncube in South Africa and Dan Dube currently based in England trying to give back to the community helping young kids to realise their talents,” he said.
The former Bosso and Warriors no-nonsense defender also said they intended to encourage the players to focus on their studies since soccer is a very short career.
“The prize money will go towards their school fees because we also want to encourage them that even if they are good in sports, they still need to take education seriously because soccer is just a short career,” he said.
Ncube is arguably one of the best centre-backs Highlanders have ever produced with one of the most important characteristic qualities that he possessed being his leadership, captaining three different teams at the same time.
Biya captained Bosso, the Zimbabwe Under-23 and the senior teams at his prime.
He played for Zimbawe Saints Juniours, moved to Bosso where his career reached its peak; he moved to the Absa PSL turning for Ajax Cape Town in 2003 until injuries killed his decorated carrier.
