Over the past eight months Castle Lager and Forwardzone in partnership with the South African Football Association (SAFA) and SABC Sport have been executing the Castle Lager Superstars XI. A campaign launched to scouting the SAB League with the sole purpose of finding the best talent across all nine provinces. From a pool of over 27 000 players,

A dedicated team of scouts and Football Ambassadors, former Bafana Bafana internationals Neil Tovey, John “Shoes” Moshoeu and Philemon Masinga were tasked with Selecting 16 top players.

After the selection announcement in December 2012, 16 hopeful players embarked on an intensive two week camp during January 2013. With the first week taking place in Stellenbosch (Stellenbosch sports Academy) before the camp moved to the High Performance Centre in Pretoria. The camp was led by former Bafana Bafana captain Neil Tovey and he was assisted by striking legend Philemon Masinga, goalkeeper John Tlale and sports scientist Warren Engelbrecht.

The Castle Lager SuperStars were handed the opportunity to play friendly matches against established clubs in the form of Ajax Cape Town, Vasco da Gama, University of Pretoria, Cosmos and SuperSport United. These matches were attended by coaches and scouts from leading teams in the PSL and the NFD and gave players a chance to showcase their ability and skill in the hope of securing interest in their service and the ultimate aim of winning a professional contract.

Forwardzone is proud to have been a part of growing player development in South Africa and look forward to reporting on the 16 player’s progress