Codessa FC win the 2017 Steven Pienaar tourney

19 June 2017

 

Codessa Football Club are the 2017 winners of the Steven Pienaar Community Soccer Tournament, named after former Bafana Bafana and Everton FC star Steven Pienaar and supported by the City of Johannesburg.

 

Codessa FC scooped the R100 000 winners’ prize after beating Lamansia FC 1-0 in the final, watched by more than 6 000 spectators at the Westbury Oval Stadium in Westbury, Region B, on Sunday June 18.

The tournament, now in its 14th year, was part of the City’s Youth Month programme marking the 41st anniversary of the June 16 1976 Soweto uprising. It was also sponsored by the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation; Clover; and Puma.

Lamansia FC walked away with the R50 000 runners-up cheque.

Pienaar, who last season played for English Premiership League side Sunderland, funded the prizes from his own pocket. Thirty-two teams competed in the annual tournament.

Handing over the prizes to the winners and runners-up, Member of Mayoral Committee for Community Development Cllr Nonhlahla Sifumba said the City would continue to support the initiative.

“Next year, we will be in negotiations with Steven Pienaar’s team because we want to expand the tournament to include other sporting codes and extend it beyond Westbury,” said MMC Sifumba.

She said it was important that the tournament was held during Youth Month as it encouraged the youth to take part in sporting activities and stay away from social ills such as substance abuse.

Pienaar said he was delighted to be contributing to the upliftment of the youth through his first love - soccer.

“This is an annual thing that we do for the kids around this neighbourhood because we know that there is a lot going on in Westbury, such as violence. So, for us, we are really trying to create a better environment,” Pienaar said.

Tournament Director Martin Napier said the showpiece was meant to demonstrate to youth that soccer could be used as a way to escape poverty. “When we started the tournament in 2003 the intention and our objective was never to make money. We wanted to give back to the community,” he said.