Gauteng Beat KwaZulu-Natal 3-2 to Win National Schools Football Title

Gauteng's U15 football side beat KwaZulu-Natal 3-2 in the final to win the 2026 Winter National School Sport Championships (WNSSC), completing an unbeaten run through the tournament held in KuGompo, Eastern Cape, from July 11 to 13.

Sthembiso Buthelezi, chairperson of the Midrand Local Football Association and head of sport at Midrand High School, was part of the Gauteng provincial technical team behind the title run. "The journey was long. We started from cluster, district and regional tournaments, all hosted at Midrand High School. We then moved to the provincial games in Florida, where we selected 25 players before cutting the squad down to 18," Buthelezi told the Midrand Reporter.

Gauteng beat Western Cape 5-0 in the semi-final, with 14-year-old Kamogelo Sazi Motswane of Space Age Academy opening the scoring in that game before the side edged KZN in the decider. The WNSSC, run by South Africa's Department of Basic Education, serves as a selection pathway to the national schools team and, from there, the COSAFA U15 Schools Championship and CAF African Schools Championship.