Benny’s Sports Development and Academy were crowned as the new Danone Nations Cup national U/12 champions, after winning the title in Boksburg on Saturday. 

They are the first school from Limpopo to take the title and the first sports development school to win it. They beat the North West champions, BM Mokitime Primary School, in a penalty shoot-out, after the game ended in a goalless draw. Benny’s won the shoot-out 5-3.

As national champions, Benny’s will represent South Africa at the Danone Nations Cup world finals in France from 14 to 16 October.

Benny’s coach, Mr Mbishi Mokwena, said that the tournament is about "believing in your dreams" and his dream since January was to win it. “We followed the tournament religiously on Facebook. We knew who had gone through to the finals, investigated the type of football they played and the quality of players and we prepared accordingly,” he said.

He added that he was nervous about playing BM Mokitime in the final. "They had won all their games, whereas two of our games ended in a draw. I knew prior to the nationals that they were a good side. But I had faith in my team.”

The school is on holiday at the moment, so they will have to wait a while for the real celebrations to begin, but preparations for the world finals are already underway. “We have asked for videos of previous world final games to help us prepare,” Mokwena said. “I know that it is a whole new ball game now, but I’m not going to put too much pressure on the boys as that will affect their confidence and therefore their performance."

He said that his ultimate dream was to be the most successful development school in South Africa.