From Missionvale to Manchester for rising Nelson Mandela Bay soccer star

From Missionvale to Manchester.

That is the tale of a teenage soccer star who, despite training on an unmarked, stony practice pitch, still managed to show his prowess as a player — and has been selected to compete in the Manchester Easter International Cup.

Onke Mzozoyana, 17, said he fell in love with the sport when he was nine years old and had by then already decided he was going to be a professional footballer one day.

Now the Gelvandale High School pupil is on the brink of making his dreams a reality as he works towards setting off to the UK to compete in the Cup from March 29 to 31, and hopefully catch the attention of scouts from some of Europe’s most prominent clubs.

The central defensive midfielder from ProSkills Soccer Academy is the process of raising funds for the R40,000 required for him to make the trip.

“In October 2022, I was selected to join the ProSkills Soccer Academy after I was spotted in their trials,” he said.

“Last weekend, I was selected to play for the Stinging Bees, which is a soccer team in New Brighton.

“The league they play in is below the ABC Motsepe League, called the Hollywoodbets Men’s regional league.

“I am really happy — all these opportunities give me hope that I must keep on pushing.

“I will reach my goal of playing in the English Premier League in Europe some day,” he said.

Mzozoyana’s current coach, Zolani Swelindawo, 37, said their club was started in 1998 to help support the sporting ambitions of the youth of Missionvale.

“From a young age he was very disciplined, he never missed practice, he attended every match, he loves sport.

“He displayed qualities [indicating] that soccer was not just a means to pass the time.

“It could be a sport that could make him successful in his future; even after training sessions he would come to my house to find out how he could improve himself as a soccer player,” Swelindawo said.

The talented youngster’s mother, Pumla, 49, said with all the gang activity in the area it was not easy to allow her son to play soccer, but she had decided not stand in the way of his passion for the sport.

“At the beginning I never saw anything that gave much interest to children playing soccer.

“He would come back saying he had scored a goal, and I would not say much of it.

“I never said that it could be something that, some day, he could go on to play at a higher level.”

However, her son proved her wrong after he was selected to compete in the Gothia Cup in Sweden in 2023.

However, he was unable to attend the event as, among other factors, his visa was not ready in time.

“In 2022, when I was called and told that he would be going to Sweden, I was financially challenged, but the Missionvale Care Centre came in to support us,” she said.

Missionvale Care Centre project co-ordinator Lucky Ngamlana said he was first contacted by Mzozoyana’s parents in 2023, when the teenager needed to raise funds for him to compete in the Gothia Cup.

“We took it upon ourselves to try to assist him.

“He showed much potential but it was a bit too late, because by the time people started sending funding, it was days before he was supposed to go to Sweden.

“His visa was not ready at the time and the parents did not know what they needed to prepare in terms of the paper work, which is how he got left behind last year.

“Fortunately that money has been waiting for him should a similar opportunity arise.

“It is not a lot of money, but I also spoke with some of the companies that help us with [support for] unemployed youths.

“Ackermans gave him a holiday job as a means to assist, and clubs in Summerstrand, such as Cubana, took raffle [tickets], as did family members and his friends,” Ngamlana said.

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