By Nangamso Mabindla
20 February 2008

SOCCER fever will hit the city this weekend when the inaugural Buffalo City Municipality Cup kicks off, bringing together some of Eastern Cape's top teams.

The teams, which play in the Vodacom League, come from Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela Metro, and King Sabatha Dalindyebo municipality. Games will be played across the city, in places like East London, Mdantsane, Gompo, Bredbach and King William's Town.

The cup is part of the City's drive to market itself as a base camp for the 2010 Fifa World Cup™. Last year, it wanted to bring European teams to play against local Premier Soccer League (PSL) teams in East London.

However, the executive support services director, Vuyo Zambodla, said that the agent preparing the games had struggled to get the teams and TV rights for such a tournament.

"We might have underestimated the Afcon and the fact that in the winter Euro 2008 kicks off. That is why we struggled to get these European teams to Buffalo City. However, we are hoping to bring them down here in 2009."

He said the City had decided to host a tournament in which the province's teams would play over three days for R25&Nbsp;000 in prize money, at venues across the city.

"We also wanted to use this cup to take soccer to the people of Buffalo City. In this financial year we are planning to bring a PSL and a cup game to the city; we are still in the process of doing that."

The Buffalo City Municipality Cup was the start of the municipality's long-term vision of improving sport within its borders. Zambodla said the City planned to develop infrastructure, the youth and its profile so that it could host bigger events in the future.

"We have just hosted a successful Ironman 70.3 Triathlon and SAA South African Tennis Open. Now we want soccer to be up there. We hope that this tournament will be a success and hopefully we can get a sponsor to come in and support the challenge cup."

He thanked Safa Eastern Cape, the provincial football authority, and local soccer bodies for supporting the tournament.

Eddie du Plooy, from Safa Eastern Cape, said that his organisation took the cup seriously and was keen on the development of soccer in the city and the province.

"I want to thank local structures like the Buffalo City Football Association and Safa Amathole for ensuring that games were cancelled to accommodate the challenge cup this weekend. Safa president Molefe Oliphant also endorses the challenge cup and said that it had the football association's blessings."

The first round of Buffalo City Municipality Cup is on Friday, 22 February; the final will be play on Sunday, 24 February. Teams playing in the tournament include Bush Bucks, Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Cloud Nine, Tembu Royals, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and Star of India, among other local teams.