Nigeria lifted the COPA Coca-Cola Inter-Africa Championships trophy when they beat South Africa 4-3 on penalties at the end of the weeklong tournament that ended today in Pretoria, South Africa.  

At full time the game ended Nil-Nil forcing the match to go into penalties. The first to take the penalty was Söuth Africa who scored the goal through their goalkeeper. Nigeria missed their first two penalties, but recovered to beat South Africa the host Nation at the Sudden Death stage. Speaking when his team lifted the trophy Nigeria Coach, Mr. Douglas Idahosa expressed his satisfaction at the performance of his team at the tournament. “today is one of my happiest days as my boys have done me proud. They managed to play good football having been together as a team for only about 10 days.” 

The final match held today, was played at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium which will also host the opening match of the FIFA Confederations this Sunday between Iraq and hosts – South Africa.  

The COPA Inter-Africa tournament brought together a total of 12 African Dream Teams from Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Kenya Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Ethiopia and an Africa Invitational Team comprising of players from Congo, Rwanda, Mozambique and South Africa. The teams arrived for the two week camp at the High Performance Training Center in University of Pretoria on 1^st June and spent the first week participating in life skills tests and exercises. The teams were then drawn into two pools and competed in a round robin tournament that begun on Sunday 7^th and concluded today.  

Following Nigeria and South Africa snatching the two top positions, Tanzania who were last year’s winners, took the third position after beating Malawi 2-0. Other teams were ranked as follows: 

4^th position – Malawi

5^th Position – Zambia

6^th Position – Kenya

7^th Position – Zimbabwe

8^th Position – Africa Invitational

9^th Position – Uganda

10^th Position – Ethiopia

11^th Position – Namibia

12^th Position - Botswana  

Speaking at the end of the tournament, Yusuf Chipo said he was grateful for the opportunity that his team had been given to participate in the COPA Coca-Cola tournament. “the tournament was an eye opener for the players, and they should use this as a stepping stone towards building their football careers.”.  

As part of the tournament, the COPA Coca-Cola players also had an opportunity to watch a live match between Italy and New Zealand as they prepared for the Confederations Cup that kicks off on Sunday. 

Coca-Cola the organizers of the event were also grateful at the turn out of the event. “this is the first time that we were having an Africa wide tournament, and we are grateful that everything worked out well. We are hoping to have an even bigger and better tournament next year, to give more talented boys an opportunity to display their skills”. Said Pamela Mutua 

This is the first time COPA Coca-Cola tournament has had an Africa competition and all participating countries have unanimously agreed that it is undoubtedly the most exciting and influential development tournament on the African continent. 

Coca-Cola is involved in football at the highest level including the FIFA flagship tournaments, the FIFA Confederations Cup and FIFA World Cup™, as well as FIFA World Cup™ Trophy Tour. 

To date, Coca-Cola has invested Kshs 40M in Kenya in COPA Coca-Cola.  This includes donation of footballs, kits to the team, prize money and preparations for the Africa Copa Coca-Cola championships.

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