There are surely few school football tournaments started by a former player that match Bafana Bafana legend Siyabonga Nomvethe’s in scale, ambition and growth potential.
In just two years the Siyabonga Nomvethe Schools Cup — while it is called a cup, it crucially take a league format — went from three regions in northern Durban to taking entrants from the whole of KwaZulu-Natal. Next year the former Kaizer Chiefs and Udinese star wants to take it national.
Last year’s tournament, overseen by the Siyabonga Bhele Nomvethe Foundation, had leagues for under-13 football (all the soccer age groups have boys and girls), under-19 football and U-18 netball, drawing entrants from all 11 municipal districts of KwaZulu-Natal.
After the district qualifying level, once the tournament reached provincial level “there were 680 teams in all the sports”, the former striker said. “But this year there will be more,” because an under-15 age group has been added in football and netball.
Nomvethe grew up in KwaMashu, Durban, where he cut his teeth at a formidable football school, Mzuvele High. He started professionally helping an African Wanderers that had Phumlani Mkhize and another Bafana stalwart who excelled in Europe, Sibusiso Zuma, in its front-line gain promotion to the Premiership as 1996-97 first division champions. In a glittering career, the skilful, lightning-quick forward won PSL Footballer of the Year awards at Kaizer Chiefs and, well into his 30s, Moroka Swallows, played against global superstars in Serie A and won league titles in Sweden and Denmark.
He retired after an extraordinarily long 23-year top-flight career at AmaZulu in 2019, though he played another season in the first division for Uthongathi to finally call it quits at 43.
So it’s no surprise his league is not just about the sports aspect, but also educating young players on the dangers of substance abuse and crime, using his example as a footballer who preserved his body to play for so long.
With the government and South African Football Association paying lip service for decades to restoring schools football that produced the legendary stars of the 1970s to 1990s, but which somehow declined post-democracy, it will take initiatives like Nomvethe’s and the Pitso Mosimane Soccer Schools development project to get the job done.
“Schools football is still strong. In KZN, there is talent and that’s why I started my foundation within an area [I knew]. I started in Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu — just those three in the area referred to as ‘Ink’,” Nomvethe said.
The forward was speaking at a two-day youth tournament organised by a financial partner of his foundation, Trellidor, at the Nike Football Training Centre in Klipspruit Soweto last week.
“After that I saw the potential for expanding this foundation to all of KZN, and made a proposal to the provincial department of education to have all those schools playing in this Siyabonga Nomvethe Schools Cup. Luckily I proposed it early and they awarded me the permission to run the tournament, just to give those young boys games. Because I’m one of the products who came through schools’ football to be ‘Siyabonga Nomvethe’ now.
“It’s an opportunity for them to show themselves, because they have talent. It’s not just a tournament, it incorporates awareness because we are fighting drugs, substance abuse and crime. And I’m teaching them to say, ‘Guys, I’m one of the products and since I’ve been travelling this route I never did any stupid things. I respect myself and my elders and family.’
“That’s why I got the opportunity to play for the big team, Kaizer Chiefs, win Footballer of the Year for them and for Moroka Swallows later, and go to play in Europe.”
For Nomvethe the continuous league aspect — rather than a one-off knockout tournament, as many companies wanting to be associated with football development, organise — is crucial. Knockout tournaments might be useful for identifying talent, but they do not do enough to develop skills in young players, which competitive leagues, played over months, do. In South Africa, far too many cities and regions do not have organised school leagues.
I have to include more legends to help those young boys and girls as mentors. The important thing is for them to see those guys, maybe a Siphiwe Tshabalala, S’thembiso Ngcobo, and when they see us their encouragement goes higher and higher for what they can achieve in football.
— Siyabonga Nomvethe
“It’s a league. A league continues. In a cup your team can be knocked out after a game or three games [so talent is not developed properly].
“It now covers the whole of KZN. I’m trying to push for more sponsorship. The provincial department of sport contribute to the tournament at provincial level.”
The Bafana legend said other former players have tournaments in KwaZulu-Natal, but “mine has got permission. Some do a tournament of maybe eight or 12 teams. But mine is a continual league with a partnership with the department of education.
“We started with the Ink districts around Durban in 2023, last year was the whole of KZN and this year I’m focusing on KZN again. By 2026 I’m expecting to take it national so everyone in the country can enter my cup.”
Perhaps Nomvethe’s project, especially if he can find enough financial partners to sustain it, could turn out to be as important to the country as the service he provided it in his playing career. Perhaps even more.
“I need support and sponsorships so it can grow. I have to include more legends to help those young boys and girls as mentors. The important thing is for them to see those guys, maybe a Siphiwe Tshabalala, S’thembiso Ngcobo, and when they see us their encouragement goes higher and higher for what they can achieve in football.”
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