The draws for the 31st edition of the Philly’s games took place last Thursday at The Hang Awt in Tembisa.
A total of 24 teams from various parts of the country have joined the tournament, which runs from 19 December to 2 January 2023 and will be played in various sections in East Rand township.
The tournament will be broadcast on SuperSport channels 202 and 209.
Defending champions Ambassadors FC are ready to do battle and defend their title.
The prize money for the winners is R200 000 and the second prize is R70 000, with the third and fourth-placed teams each pocketing R10 000 and R 5000 respectively.
In last year’s final the Ambassadors went head to head against the 18 Mambas.
The two rivals came to the final with a lot expected of their players.
The 18 Mambas had the likes of Tshepo “Skhwama Sama Tariyana” Matete and Xolani “BlackBerry” Nkala (who was facing his former team). Eventually Ambassadors FC were crowned champions as they won 3-0 on penalties after a goalless 90 minutes
The coach of the winning team, Katlego Maphakola, said, “We are ready to defend our title. Speaking of talent, we are proud to say we have teams from the PSL and the Motsepe foundation Championship, knocking at our doors.”
At last year’s tournament, youngster Mfundo Vilakazi become a household name thanks to DStv and social media, while playing for Doornkop Students. Vilakazi went on to sign with the Kaizer Chiefs Diski challenge team.
On the opening day Abarondoli will take on One Lion at 10am. The Tembisa-based team was formed in 2002 and Former Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United player George Maluleka played for them. One lion is a team from Ivory Park formed in 2014 and have won the Cairo tournament.
The second game of the day will see Tso XI face Musa United. The Hammer boys were formed in 2014 and are locals, while their opponents, also known as Ama 2000, were formed in 2016 in Kathlehong. They’ve already won the Kathlehong Community Games in 2021
The third game on the day sees Skepe Nkatole take on former Phyllis games runners up Rebels. Skepe is a team that’s appeared in the tournaments various times before. Their opponents are known as Die Dans, were formed in 2010, and won the Steven Pienaar tournament in the past.
The final game of the day sees Ama BEE, known as the Tender Boys, up against Samba Boys, the Tender Boys are previous champions and were formed in 2006 and have had Themba Zwane play for them. Zwane was spotted by Sundowns scout Barnes Bapela playing at this tournament.