By GIFT NDOLWANE
JOHANNESBURG – THE search is on for the next South African football star to emerge from the Limpopo Province.
The country’s northernmost province’s hopefuls will be the most inspired of the aspirants with the latest exciting star to grace topflight football after he was identified through the programme, Aubrey Modiba, hailing from Polokwane in the province.
The Nedbank Ke Yona Team Search is underway, and entries are currently open to players between the ages of 18 and 23 with a valid South African identity document.
Marking its fifth consecutive year of making football dreams to reality, it is the legacy of the Nedbank Cup, the country’s prime cup football tournament that is also underway and has reached the Last 16 stage.
The countrywide search will culminate with 48 hopeful taken to a boot camp phase at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre .
The hopefuls will be put through their paces by the coaches again and the squad will eventually be whittled down to 18.
They will form the Ke Yona team going head-to-head with 2017 Nedbank Cup champions later this year.
Only four players from Limpopo region made it to the last 18 side that played Supersport United last season.
Modiba (21) the left-footed winger-cum-wingback is at Supersport via a brief stint at Mpumalanga Black Aces, now campaigning as Cape Town City after selling their Premiership status.
Discovered at the second edition of the Ke Yona Team Search in 2014 at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, he has steadily grown to become one of the country’s most prized football assets.
An award as the Young Player of the 2015/16 season has paved way for him representing the senior national team and the U-23s at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
Nedbank Group Executive for Marketing, Communications and Corporate Affairs, Thulani Sibeko, welcomed the breakthroughs the talent search has attained.
“The Nedbank Cup has long been an enabler of young talent, providing the platform for previously unknown stars to shine,” says Sibeko.
– Guardian