-By Bev Mortimer-
Breaking!… Kani, St Francis Bay’s local soccer star, now has sufficient funds to fly to Denmark for the Dana Cup!
St Francis Bay’s soccer star is finally off to Dana Cup this July
Funds have come in swiftly since appeals for funds from charitable folk for this highly talented soccer player, Mofu Khanyisa, aka, ‘Kani’, to get to Denmark. For those following this determined young athlete, there have been tears of joy and not many dry eyes at the news that he is definitely going!
Kani has been a soccer players since he was 12 and is the top soccer striker in the whole of the Kouga municipal area south of Gqeberha, soccer coaches say.
For months requests for funds were posted on social media by his coaches, supporters, including St Francis Chronicle newspaper, for people in South Africa and many readers across the globe to support this worthy cause.
Matt and Kani’s other St Francis Bay coach, Juju, say: “We value Kani and love to see him live out his dream! Kani is thrilled to have been chosen and that he is finally going and his dreams are coming true!”
The call was thankfully heard and many rallied to the call. The amount was around R40k needed and just last month it was R4k short, then R2k at the beginning of July….
And then suddenly one of Kani’s coaches, Matt Davis, gave the ‘all-clear’, all systems go” signal this weekend: “He is flying out on 22 July,” an excited Matt said!
Matt thanks everyone, all the people near and far who contributed, He says there are too many people to thank individually – from the person who paid for the ticket, for others whose contributions paid for accommodation, food money, kit and gear, and some even bought some items for him to travel with.
Kani is now off to Denmark in July to play in the prestigious Dana Cup championship between 24-29 July 2023.
He scored more than 20 goals last season in the U/15 age group and this year, now playing in the 1st Division League, he has already scored 30+ goals.
Kani was one of 18 other soccer players chosen in the recent Gqeberha (aka Port Elizabeth/PE ) trials. His team for the Dana Cup will be among 1000 teams from around the world competing in the Dana Cup, the top ranked youth tournament.
