African Football Takes Centre Stage As The Toyota Cup Officially Launches
African Football Takes Centre Stage As The Toyota Cup Officially Launches. African football giants are set to collide this month as the Toyota Cup – a brand-new annual cup competition – launches in partnership with Kaizer Chiefs Football Club and Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM).
A ground-breaking pre-season Cup competition set to be hosted and contested by Kaizer Chiefs FC, the Toyota Cup will see South Africa’s largest football brand, going head-to-head against some of the best football Clubs on the continent. The Toyota Cup is set to occur during the off-season for the next three years as an innovative extension to the Glamour Boys’ current sponsorship with the automaker.
For its inaugural edition, set to be played at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on Sunday 28 July at 15h00, the mighty Amakhosi will face Tanzania’s most successful football team, Young Africans Sporting Club, in what is perfectly poised to be a unique celebration of African football flair.
Ahead of the titanic clash, football fans in the City of Roses will have the opportunity to go down memory lane with a curtain-raiser match between Kaizer Chiefs and Bloemfontein Celtic legends at 12h30. The legends’ match, along with the main clash between Amakhosi and Yanga will also be in honour of the late Ntate Petrus Molemela – Life President of Bloemfontein Celtic and the football loving people of Mangaung.
Speaking from the launch event, Leon Theron, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Toyota South Africa Motors said the Toyota Cup underscores the brand’s commitment to its ever-growing customer base who have been true to the Toyota brand over the years. “The launch of this unique cup signifies our commitment to our customers, who we know have a strong passion for sport. The innovative nature of this property further emphasises our commitment to engaging with our customers in South Africa and various parts of the continent. Working closely with our partners Kaizer Chiefs and Young Africans, we look forward to a memorable 2024 Toyota Cup,” said an elated Theron.
Sharing Toyota’s sentiments, Kaizer Chiefs’ Marketing and Commercial Director, Jessica Motaung said the Toyota Cup aligns with the Club’s strategic objective of further enhancing its brand on the continent. “We are excited to be launching this ground-breaking initiative through our partnership with Toyota. The Kaizer Chiefs brand has been successfully built on the Club’s rich history of its contribution to not only South African football, but the ever-growing brand of football on the continent. In Yanga, our Club has found brand synergies that align to our objective of enhancing the African football brand, and through the Toyota Cup, we look forward to collectively working together in achieving this”, said Motaung.
Thanking both Toyota and Chiefs, President of Young Africans SC, Hersi Ally Said commented: “As the Young Africans Sports Club, we are very pleased to receive this invitation to participate in the Toyota Cup 2024. This match continues the relationship between our two big teams in Africa, which began last year when we invited Chiefs to participate in our exhibition friendly match called Wiki Ya Mwananchi. We are delighted by this invitation and promise to deliver a competitive match that will help us prepare for the new season of 2024/25”.
As Said and Motaung serve as President and Vice President of CAF’s African Club Association (ACA), the Toyota Cup match will highlight the significance of club collaboration across the continent, a key objective of ACA aimed at advancing club football.
