From left are, Anele Somagaca (The Female World Foundation Director), Kwezi Ladies players, Thandokazi Moni (captain) and Mihlali Somi.
The Female World Foundation directed by Anele Somagaca hosted the second annual Tsomo Ladies Football Tournament aimed at encouraging young girls to participate in the sport.
The tournament took place at the Tsomo Mission sports ground in Tsomo, on Saturday, August 6.
Somagaca said by hosting this tournament they want to encourage the young girls to take sports seriously.
“Basically, the aim is to encourage the young girls to sort of take up a talent, because I think it is where you develop your love for sport. I feel that we need to encourage the young girls to take up a sport, especially soccer because it is still predominantly a male dominated sport. Our aim is to remind not only girls but the parents and community at large that girls should also play sports, especially soccer,” said Somagaca.
The ladies teams that took part in the tournament included; Vutha Ladies from Mahusheni Village, Future Stars FC from Nobhokhwe Village, Khwezi Ladies FC from Qhumanco Village and Pioneers FC from Tsomo Mission.
Khwezi Ladies were crowned the champions of the Tsomo Ladies Football Tournament after beating Future Stars 3-1 in the final, while Vutha took third place beating Pioneers 1-0 in the losers final.
Khwezi Ladies is the only team in Intsika Yethu Local Municipality coached by a woman.
The champions walked away with a trophy and gold medal and Future Stars went home with silver medals. The most encouraging part of the tournament is that each and every team that took part in the tournament received training equipment.
Somagaca said there are no sponsors for the tournament, “We have been doing this tournament since last year and the sponsors gave us hope but disappointed us at the last minute, so we ended up relying on us,” said Somagaca.