MDANTSANE HOSTS RED BULL STREET STYLE!
East London’s freestyle soccer players made their way down to Mdantsane City to enter the Red Bull Street Style freestyle soccer contest held on Saturday 26 September 2009.
East London’s freestyle soccer players made their way down to Mdantsane City to enter the Red Bull Street Style freestyle soccer contest held on Saturday 26 September 2009.
Mdantsane showed some promising talent with freestyle soccer players from as young as nine years old taking part in this Eastern Cape Qualifier Tournament. This national competition will see 16 finalists from all over South Africa compete at the National Final in Johannesburg on 25 October. The winner from the National Final will get the chance to compete against some of the worlds best freestylers at the World Final taking place in Cape Town in April 2010.
The spot at the National Final went to Vuyolwethu Ngqakayi who impressed the judges from the time he stepped onto the mat, and pipped Lelethu Leza to win the spot.
Last year’s champion, Chris Njokwana, was one of the judges this year alongside head judge and former Hellenic midfielder, Ryan Wilks. The third judge was Brendan Augustine, a former Bafana Bafana striker and attacking midfielder who was part of the successful South African squad of the mid- and late 90’s. Augustine was also part of the first ever South African squad to play in the World Cup when they qualified for France 1998. He has also played for Bush Bucks in the Premier Soccer League before moving to Austria where he played for LASK. He later returned to South Africa to play for Ajax Cape Town and is now based in East London.
All three judges were impressed with the up and coming talent that East London had to offer and look forward to seeing more from East London’s freestylers in the future.
The Red Bull Street Style contest now moves onto Durban where the search for the best freestyle soccer players continues.
Regional qualifier dates:
11 October – Durban – Gateway Theatre of Shopping – Palm Court
24 October – Gauteng – Maponya Mall, Soweto
Registration starts at 10h00 and contest starts at 11h00
National Final
25 October – Gauteng – Maponya Mall, Soweto
Check out a video below of all the qualifier action in East London
