Football fans around the country are eagerly awaiting the kickoff of the inaugural Toyota Cup, with the iconic Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein emerging as the host of the one annual cup competition—the Toyota Cup.
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 go head-to-head against some of the best football clubs on the continent during the off-season for the next three years as an innovative extension to its current sponsorship agreement with Toyota South Africa.
For its inaugural edition set to be played at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on Sunday, July 28 at 15:00, the Mighty Amakhosi will face Tanzania’s most successful football team, Young Africans Sports 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 be afforded an opportunity to go down memory lane with a curtain-raiser match between Kaizer Chiefs and Bloemfontein Celtic Legends at 12:30.
The legends’ match, along with the main clash between Amakhosi and Yanga, will also be in honour of the late Ntate Petrus Molemela, the life president of Bloemfontein Celtic, and the football-loving people of Mangaung.
Not only are fans guaranteed of live entertainment by renowned artists and two football matches on match day, but Toyota also confirmed an exciting prize give-away, which will see one lucky fan leave the Toyota stadium with a brand-new Toyota Corolla Cross XI CVT worth over R400 000.
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, which has been true to the Toyota brand over the years.
“This launch of this unique sponsorship property 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 with our objective of enhancing the African football brand, and through the Toyota Cup, we look forward to collectively working together to achieve 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 both Said and Motaung serve on CAF’s African Club Association (ACA) as President and Vice President, respectively, the Toyota Cup match will showcase the importance of collaboration between the different clubs on the continent to grow club football, as this is one of the main objectives for the ACA.
Tickets to the first ever Toyota Cup are officially on sale across all TicketPro outlets in South Africa for as little as R40. Fans are urged to purchase their tickets as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
