BY SABELO GWEBU
SOCCER – Milky Max Under-13 tournament, premier league stars Siwakhile ‘Swakis’ Shongwe and Mayibongwe ‘Suarez’ Mabuza are products of this development initiative by Lactalis Eswatini.
Now called Cabana Under-13 tournament, champions of the Mbabane Zone will be known on Saturday during the finals staged for Msunduza Sports Ground. ‘Swakis’ is now in the books of giants Mbabane Highlanders while ‘Suarez’ is with Nsingizini Hotspurs.
Both players have also represented the country in junior national teams with the latter playing a big role for Eswatini last October as it played host to the COSAFA Under-20 Championships, a tournament finally won by Zambia.
“For development purposes, it is important that sponsors target the Under-13s which is a crucial stage for a player. This tournament helped us become the players that we are today and we hope more players will be unearthed from this great initiative,” Mabuza said.
Siwakhile represented Pigg’s Peak Black Swallows while Mayibongwe played for Supersport.
The champions of the Mbabane zone will walk away with E3 000 while it will be E2 000 for the runners-up and E1 000 each for semi-final losers. Formerly Parmalat, Lactalis started sponsoring the Hhohho Regional Football Association Under-13 tournament in 2014 with E10 000 and a whopping E80 000 in prize monies will be distributed in this year’s finals.
CABANA U-13 FIXTURE
Saturday at Msunduza Sports Ground
Real Tec vs Red Stars 9am
Real Stars vs Mangwaneni 10am
Red Stars vs Hurricane 11am
Dark City vs Mbabane Swallows 12noon
CABANA U-13 FINALS DATES
February 4: Mbabane
February 11: Buhleni
February 18: Pigg’s Peak
February 25: Lobamba
