Women teams ready for the visiting Germans

ball-in-net
ball-in-net
German women’s football team SV Union Meppen will take on some of the best talent the Eastern Cape has to offer from tomorrow to Tuesday in various towns in the province.

This initiative is part of a twinning agreement between the Eastern Cape province and the Federal State of Lower Saxony. The agreement will see the two provinces

“support knowledge transfer and exchange expertise to improve governance and strengthen institutional capacity for service delivery of local government”.

Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle and deputy-prime minister of Lower Saxony, Stefan Wenzel, signed a joint declaration of intent in Bhisho to foster socio-economic development, foreign investment and cooperation in areas of technology, sport, HIV/AIDS and tourism in their respective provinces last year.

The signing of the declaration was to renew the twinning agreement and also to celebrate the 20 years of successful bilateral relations between the provinces, which have maintained relations and carried out joint projects since 1995. This re-commitment was further cemented by a recent visit to Germany by the Premier and members of his executive council.

The Germans will play their first official match tomorrow at the Mthatha Stadium against a team made of players from OR Tambo, Joe Gqabi and Alfred Nzo Districts. This clash will be followed on Sunday by a game against a team made up of players from Buffalo City, Amathole and Chris Hani Districts at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane while the final game will involve players from Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and Sarah Baartman Municipality at the Rhodes University field on Tuesday.

Department of sport, recreation, arts and culture communications manager Andile Nduna said the programme bares positive results when it comes to issues of sport and recreation in the province.

He added that football in the Eastern Cape will also benefit immensely through the training of coaches and referees.

“The programme will also be providing coaching clinics which will benefit young people and especially women who are aspiring soccer professionals,” said Nduna.

Safa provincial secretary Isaac Klaas said the programme also focused on other aspects while opening doors to other opportunities for participants.

Commenting on the readiness of the Eastern Cape women’s team, Klaas said they had strategically placed three teams that will play the Germans in order to give an opportunity to a lot of players.

“We are very happy with this initiative by the department. We will benefit from it as some of our players and referees have been trained on our previous tour to Germany in 2014.

“During our visit we had an opportunity to play three matches against them which we won, said Klaas. — qaqambam@dispatch.co.za

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