Diski Challenge new season kicks off with a festival of local derbies

The ninth season of the DStv Diski Challenge will launch this weekend, 10 and 11 September, in KwaZulu Natal with a festival of local derbies.

Supporters of the Premier Soccer League’s (PSL) Reserve League will be treated to blockbuster matches which include the Durban, Soweto, Cape Town and Tshwane derbies.

The new season will kick off with defending champions Stellenbosch facing off against cross-town rivals, Cape Town City on Saturday at 10:00; followed by Golden Arrows playing against AmaZulu at 12:00.

On Sunday, Tshwane rivals SuperSport United and Mamelodi Sundowns do battle before Soweto comes to a standstill as Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates square off.

All four matches will be played at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi, Durban.

Entry into the stadium is free but fans must be in possession of a match ticket which can be collected at the stadium’s ticket office on Friday between 13:00 and 18:00.

First introduced in 2014, the DStv Diski Challenge has cemented itself as a necessary and vital league in developing and propelling football players from amateur to the professional ranks.

The league has also helped bolster the South African football landscape by getting an increasing number of youth to move up to the Premiership quicker than in previous years. This is evident with players like SuperSport United’s 17-year-old Neo Rapoo and Cape Town City’s 16-year-old Luphumlo Sifumba, who recently made their first team debuts.

“Our partnership with the PSL on the DStv Diski Challenge has always been about the systematic development of the country’s next generation of players from an early age and to help create a talent pipeline for the Premier Soccer League and junior national teams.

Players like Rapoo and Sifumba are just two in a long list of players in the 16-17 age category that have stepped up to professional level after transitioning through the Diski Challenge since its inception,” commented Collen Dlamini, Group Executive for Corporate Affairs at MultiChoice.

In addition to showcasing the next crop of talented players, the DStv Diski Challenge’s new season will also be a vital platform to provide U17 and U20 national team coaches a talent pool as they seek to qualify for the respective World Cups taking place in 2023.