SHOSHOLOZA
FOOTBALL ACADEMY
Break through the bureaucracy, politics and institutional barriers that hold back youth soccer development in South Africa, and benefit from the underutilized home-grown football knowledge of local ex-professional talent, so as to raise aspirations and opportunities, through sport, for all South African youth.
About SHOSHOLOZA
A group of retired international ex-professional footballers have come together to create a unique social enterprise, with the goal of introducing Cape Town youth to careers in sports, as well as developing future professional athletes. We take South African kids from all walks of life, with multi-cultural roots and form racially diversified youth teams - that mirror the face of today’s South Africa. Along the way, the goal is to expose South Africa U16 to U18 youth (boys & girls) to sports-related professional careers, whilst developing and instilling ethics, citizenship and leadership skills that will allow them to contribute to the socio-economic welfare of their communities. The vision, termed “Project Shosholoza,” is to develop players that will succeed not only at international professional levels, but that along the way, can achieve academic success and prepare them for professions in sports-related careers, such as becoming doctors, physiotherapists, nurses, data analysts and biokineticists, to name a few.
Shosholoza has as an overriding goal, to develop future role models and mentors as examples to SA youth that hard work, sportsmanship and pride in oneself, can indeed bring change, unite communities, replace despair with hope and further breakdown racial divides.
Shosholoza Football Academy is a Cape Town based, independent Youth Soccer Development Organization, established as a Non-Profit Company (NPO), with the intention of achieving SARS “Public Benefits Organization” (PBO) status.
operations
The long term goal of Project Shosholoza is fixed on establishing an on-going program of year round player development, providing intensive training of players pursuing professional sports careers. The development program relies on the services of a team of professionally licensed coaches, and experienced executives, focussed on developing and placing players internationally within the top ranks of professional clubs in Europe. Also fundamental is our partnering with other social enterprises that can provide support to the organization in fostering an all around program of health, nutrition and educational development for our players. This includes medical staff, nutritionists, physiotherapists, biokineticists and educators that work in tandem with the development staff exposing the players to alternative careers in sports through presentations, counseling and mentoring. A set all year-round training program and schedule, includes weekly training sessions (adjusted for age categories), Trainings are held at our training facility, in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, with access to 2 natural turf playing fields, evening lighting and changing room facilities.
An integral part of the program is a system of initial and continuing player evaluation. Player development is monitored by our individual coaches under the supervision of our Player Performance Director. We collect player performance data onto a central cloud-based database, where tracking performance and progress can be accessed via a player dashboard. The Player Evaluation App (Futeval+) is also able to “score” each player dynamically and create rankings or ratings for each player. The app also generates Player Reports, which can provide information on the player’s physical attributes, contact details, club history, photos and links to personal video highlights, as well as breakdowns on his or her scores on aspects of their technical, tactical and psychometric game. These reports are then available for internal use or for distribution to other clubs, scouts and schools.
Our ultimate goal is to establish a year-round residential academy, where players can be protected from societal pressures which threaten their development, both physically as well as psychologically.
SKILZ SCHOOL
The Shosholoza Skilz School is a club neutral program that offers high performance football skills and tactical training to 8-12 and 12-16 year old competitive football players and an opportunity for outstanding players to be identified for the Shosholoza Football Academy Program.
The Skilz School operates as a Sunday morning weekly training session year-round at Southfield Primary School.
GOALS
- Offer an organized avenue for youth to participate in soccer and make it available to all segments of the SA population, such that teams reflect the diverse cultural and racial diversity of SA.
- Provide an elite development program for Academy graduates by acquiring a 2nd or 3rd division national or provincial professional franchise, where players can further hone their skills at a top level competitive match play.
- Provide an opportunity for real professional development in an Academy environment, with UEFA licensed coaches.
- Develop our players to become soccer professionals playing at the highest level, for seeding SA professional leagues, international clubs, and ultimately to develop SA players capable of bringing a World Cup trophy to SA.
- Teach kids leadership skills and ethics that will make them better SA citizens and future leaders in their communities, in and out of the sport.
- Expose youth to the varied career paths offered within sports, besides professional competition, e.g. coaching, physiotherapy, sports science, sports medicine etc.
Continue our support of our developed players by offering Player Representative/Agent Services on a non-profit basis. Instead of the traditional agent commission fee structure, a fee would be paid by the player to a development fund managed by the Shosholoza Project to be reinvested in the development of future youth development.
HOW IS SHOSHOLOZA DIFFERENT?
- Shosholoza FC is a sustainable social enterprise with a double-bottomline strategy. While the organization itself is registered as a Non Profit Organisation, and receives funding from Project Shosholoza, the player representative/agent operations are a separate affiliate with a double-bottomline social enterprise.
- We have specific identified goals with measurable objectives that are monitored and reported on to all our stakeholders.
- We are led by professionally licensed and internationally recognised coaches and training staff, including ex-professional players with both SA National Team and international club playing experience. Non-Technical operations are managed by a highly experienced management team with extensive financial, sports management and social enterprise experience.
- We have partnered with other social enterprises that provide support to the Organization in fostering an all around program of health, nutrition and education development for its players, bringing in medical staff, nutritionists, physiotherapists and educators that work in partnership with development staff.
- We are a self-sustaining social enterprise, combining a private sector initiative with a not for profit operation, that is not dependent on government nor South African Football Association (SAFA) financial support.
Sponsorship opportunites
We offer a range of affordable sponsorship opportunities that can be tailored, by negotiation, to meet your circumstances and requirements.
Our sponsors are important to us and we gratefully acknowledge their support and contribution to our ongoing success.
All sponsors enjoy a range of benefits, including:
- Your branding/logo on club communications (e.g. club website, match day communication, Facebook and Instagram)
- Acknowledgement at home matches via PA announcements and signage
- Direct marketing to members via e-mail newsletters and social media
- Discounted hall hire for corporate or private functions
- Home field advertising board/services directory
- Invitations to sponsors’ functions
- A Shosholoza Soccer Club polo shirt with your logo
PLAYER SPONSOR
(R 5.000)
Show your support of the club by sponsoring one of our First Team players.
In addition to signage at our home field and season passes for all home matches, you will receive a framed photo of your sponsored player to be proudly displayed at your place of business.
OTHER PACKAGES
(by negotiation)
We would be happy to discuss a range of other opportunities to promote your brand, including:
- Your logo on playing shirts and shorts
- Your logo on coaches and club officials’ apparel
- Your logo on players off-field apparel (polos, tracksuits)
- Sponsorship of our end of season presentation dinner
- Signage in our clubrooms