Press release -
The 19th Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge: Soweto’s favourite football festival ready for kickoff
Key Announcements:
- The 19th edition of the Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge will take place from 1-23 December 2022.
- Whilst the men’s category is full, some spaces remain for the u17 and women’s categories. Teams are encouraged to urgently secure their spots into Soweto’s number 1 diski challenge.
- Entries close on 30 November 2022.
Discovery and the South African Football Association (SAFA) have once again partnered for the 19thedition of the Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge. Hosted at Shapa Soweto, the highly anticipated, unrivalled in spirit, extremely competitive and one-of-its-kind football festival sets the township alight annually – this year in anticipation of nearly 2800 players.
“This grassroots diski tournament was established in 2002, and strategically aligns with Discovery’s core purpose of making people healthier, enhancing, and protecting their lives,” says Deon Curtis, Senior Marketing Manager for Sponsorships Marketing at Discovery.
“After a pause in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, the tournament returned last year, and although there were some challenges; the Omicron Variant and rising number of cases then, it was a success. We are excited that this year will also go ahead and expect minimal to no disruptions, but for the games to get going in a safe space for everyone, considering that the pandemic is still with us,” says Curtis.
“Discovery continues to invest in school sports and soccer at grassroots levels and this tournament also proves that communities can get active in the most accessible way, making exercise fun and engaging,” he adds.
The tournament allows scores of participants, young and old to compete on the pitch.
Registrations for the 104 team, three week, round robin, grassroots diski tournament are almost at full capacity with only a handful of spots available in the women’s and u17 categories.
Phil Mogodi, SAFA Johannesburg President ,warmly welcomes fans from far and wide to attend and follow in the footsteps of footballers Sibusiso Vilakazi, Percy Tau, Portia Modise, Lyle Foster, Ronwen Williams, Andile Dlamini and many more.
He says that the impact of this tournament extends far beyond the football fields;
“Participating in a tournament of this nature is unquantifiable and an absolute essential to any serious footballer in my opinion. It’s an important part of a players journey – growing in leaps and bounds, players are more mature, skilled, motivated and determined on the other side of this tournament.”
To join the live action, we encourage football fans to follow @Discovery_SA and show their support for the teams using #DWSSC. All spectators are welcome, entrance is free.
/ ENDS /
Written for and on behalf of Discovery by Caroline Malan – The PR Machine – caroline@theprmachine.co.za.
For media queries: Caroline Malan – caroline@theprmachine.co.za
For tournament queries: Kristy Cunningham - kc@goallounge.tv
Event details:
Name: Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge
Dates: 1 – 23 December 2022
Venue: Shapa Soweto, formerly known as The Nike Football Centre in Klipspruit, Soweto
Format: Round robin, knock out stages from quarter finals
Teams: Open Men Category: 48 teams | Women Category: 16 teams | u17’s Category: 40 teams
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Discovery information
About Discovery
Discovery Limited is a South African-founded financial services organisation that operates in the healthcare, life assurance, short-term insurance, banking, savings and investment and wellness markets. Since inception in 1992, Discovery has been guided by a clear core purpose – to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. This has manifested in its globally recognised Vitality Shared-Value insurance model, active in 40 markets, impacting 40 million lives. The model is exported and scaled through the Global Vitality Network, an alliance of some of the largest insurers across key markets including AIA (Asia), Ping An (China), Generali (Europe), Sumitomo (Japan), John Hancock (US), Manulife (Canada) and Vitality Life & Health (UK, wholly owned). Discovery trades on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange as DSY. Follow us on Twitter @Discovery_SA
About Discovery Vitality
Vitality is the largest global platform for behaviour change, underpinning the insurance products of leading insurers worldwide, impacting 30 million lives in 40 markets. The Vitality model, established by Discovery Limited in South Africa, has been incentivising behaviour change amongst its clients for over 25 years. Vitality creates shared value by combining behavioural economics, clinical science, and financial incentives to encourage and reward members for taking steps to improve their health. The model began with a focus on health and wellness and has expanded to include short-term insurance, investments, and financial wellness. For more information, please visit the Vitality website or email the Discovery Media Relations team.
About the Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge:
The Discovery Walter Sisulu Soccer Challenge plays an important role in developing and growing soccer players within the Soweto community. The tournament encourages members of the community to lead healthier, more active lives. The tournament started in 2002 and has been able to grow year on year, in exposure and player participation. The tournament was put on hold in 2020 due to strict COVID-19 restrictions: Discovery and SAFA agreed that the health and safety of players, the community, the fans and organizers is always of the utmost importance.
