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Organising body | Orlando Pirates F.C. |
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Founded | 2016 |
Region | South Africa |
Number of teams | 54 |
Current champions | Lerumo Lions (1st title) |
Most successful team(s) | Orlando Pirates U/21 (3 titles) |
Website | www |
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The Pirates Cup is an U/21 soccer tournament hosted annually by Orlando Pirates. [1]
The current champions are Lerumo Lions who defeated Orlando Pirates 1-0 in the final. [2]
The inaugural edition was founded in 2016. [3] Orlando Pirates won the first three editions of the tournament.
In 2019, the tournament started allowing U/21 teams from the PSL and the NFD to participate and increased the numbers of teams from 24 to 32 teams. [4] Orlando Pirates were defeated 1-0 in the final by SuperSport United making Matsatsantsa the first team other than the Buccaneers to win the tournament. [5]
Year | Champions | Runners-up |
---|---|---|
2016 | Orlando Pirates | |
2017 | Orlando Pirates | |
2018 | Orlando Pirates | |
2019 | SuperSport United | Orlando Pirates |
2020 | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 | |
2021 | ||
2022 | Ambassadors FC | Bosso 90 |
2023 | Stars of Africa Football Academy | Orbit College |
2024 | University of Johannesburg [6] | Teltonika Amahle |
2025 | Lerumo Lions [2] | Orlando Pirates |
The best players at the tournament get to feature in the Project X team. Project X, is a developmental team formed by Orlando Pirates to develop its future stars and expose them to the highest level of football. The team has a yearly tour in which they play matches against some best academies.
The 2017 and 2019 Project X tours saw the team jet out to England. [7] [8] In 2018, they toured Brazil. [9]
The following players were rated best: [10]
Year | Golden Boot | Team | MVP | Team | Golden Glove | Team |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | ||||||
2017 | ||||||
2018 | ||||||
2019 | Rodi Sibanda (12 goals) | Orlando Pirates | Reagan Appollis | SuperSport United | not awarded | |
2020 | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 | |||||
2021 | ||||||
2022 | Mehluleli Maphumulo | Ambassadors | Relebogile Ratomo | Transnet School of Excellence | not awarded | |
2023 | Lungile Mokoena | Amahle | Siyabulela Mabele | Orbit College | not awarded | |
2024 | Thokozani Sibanyoni | eMalahleni United | Mpendulo Phewa | Midlands Academy | Lungelo Sithole | University of Johannesburg |
2025 | Alfred Kwanele | eMalahleni United | Lucky Malatsi | Lerumo Lions | not awarded |
The tournament is sponsored by: [11]