The King of Glory provincial tournament, which has built a reputation as a leading platform linking players from Eastern Cape development structures to Premier Soccer League teams, returns this weekend, with scouts already confirming their attendance at Bunkers Hill.
African champions Mamelodi Sundowns will send a delegation of two coaches for the tournament after being impressed last year.
In the last edition, Downs scouted centre-back Lwandile Godloza, who is now operating in the developmental ranks and is working on cracking the Diski Challenge team.
Lakham Gqongo and Ukhonaye Magele, who were part of the SA U20 Cosafa Cup-winning team in Mozambique, also participated in the King of Glory tournament.
The brains behind the competition, Sbusiso Nodada, wants to unearth more names for the national level over the weekend.
He has had confirmation from 32 senior teams and 16 U17 teams, as well as 16 netball teams.
The defending champions are Kilimanjaro from Buffalo Flats (seniors), Coastal All Nation (U17) and Olutsha Sunbirds (netball).
They will be looking to go back-to-back, which has proved hard to achieve because of the tournament’s competitiveness.
“Our vision when we started the competition was to change young players’ lives through sport and we are happy with the steps we have taken to make sure that some of them get opportunities,” Nodada said.
“We are all set for this weekend. The preparation has gone well.
“We have teams from across Buffalo City. Some are from outside, and that shows how much we have grown to be accommodating provincially as opposed to when we started.
“We have been able to build relationships with the PSL clubs and the University of Fort Hare.
“When there are top-quality players they are impressed with, they communicate with us and take them into their ranks.”
The prizes for the tournament will range from R30,000 for seniors to R15,000 for the U17s.
Former PSL star Andile Jali is expected to attend the tournament, as is the provincial sport MEC Sibulele Ngongo.