The Limpopo Baobab Soccer Challenge, with prize money totalling R100 000, was launched on Tuesday at Polokwane.

The tournament caters for 32 amateur teams from around the five districts in Limpopo. The winners will go home with R50 000, the runners-up will receive R20 000 and each of the 30 teams will pocket R1 000 for participating in the event. The teams will also all receive new soccer kits.

With the PSL season scheduled to take a break for the festive season, the Baobab tournament will provide welcome entertainment. The matches are scheduled to be played between the 20th and the 29th of December in Louis Trichardt. The soccer tournament will be co-ordinated by MTN, together with Black Leopards, to ensure a well-organised tournament, with top-class facilities, that is open to the community.

MTN is no stranger to this community and also a sponsor of Black Leopards. It is because of this relationship that the matches will be played at Black Leopards´ training grounds. These facilities were officially handed over by MTN to Black Leopards and the community about a year go.

Mr Dudley Zikhali, MTN South Africa sponsorship manager, says: “In 2008, MTN came on board to manage a project which saw the former grounds undergo a major makeover for use by Black Leopards and the neighbouring communities. We also promised that we would come back and hold this tournament at these very facilities. We are fulfilling that promise of holding a tournament for the Limpopo community and its media as our contribution to developing football at the grass roots level”.

He said that MTN would like to continue to develop their relationship with the region and provide something tangible that the people will value. This is the organisation´s way of making sure that it touches the lives of those in the Limpopo through a sport that most people have a lot of passion for, namely football.

Lucas Nhlapo, president of Safa Limpopo, said the province´s people were very grateful for a tournament of this magnitude. "We believe it came at the right moment as it will keep people occupied during this period of the year. MTN is serious about giving back to the communities in which it operates by providing the opportunity to participate in the sport free of charge,” he said.