After months of preparation, the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Qualifiers Africa are set to begin at the University of Pretoria’s Rembrandt Hall from 17-23 March.
Seven African countries will compete for a spot at the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 in Gibraltar next year September. All participating countries have arrived and are ready to start competing from Sunday. The countries are South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Namibia, and Zambia.
“For South Africa to host the Netball World Youth Cup 2025 Qualifiers Africa is significant. It can be challenging for other countries to host but I am glad South Africa stepped up. Over the next seven days, we will see Under-21 teams from seven countries battling for a spot at next year’s Netball World Youth Cup. It is particularly important that we expose our young athletes to highly competitive tournaments because this will aid in getting them ready for their respective senior national teams and global competitions,” said Cecilia Molokwane, Africa Netball and Netball South Africa President.
The University of Pretoria’s Rembrandt Hall will host the tournament, with the first match scheduled for a midday start on Sunday and the last match on Saturday, 23 March.
"It is my pleasure to be penning this message of support to Netball South Africa and in particular Tshwane Netball for having been chosen to host this prestigious event in our city," said Deputy Mayor, Dr Nasiphi Moya. "We very much are alive to the fact that we can never be able to host these events without the collaboration of the key stakeholders, particularly the federations who are the custodians of the various sporting codes. It is therefore in our best interest that we forge good working relations with these structures, something which also echoes with the Sport and Recreation Strategy. It was therefore a no brainer when we received a request for partnership from Tshwane Netball to partner in hosting this tournament."
For the first time since the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, the public broadcaster in South Africa, the SABC, will air all matches of the Netball World Cup 2025 Qualifiers Africa across its various channels.
Molokwane reminded South Africans about the significance of this year in the history of the country. South Africa commemorates 30 years as a democratic state after the 1994 and she has continued to encourage everyone and most importantly the youth to go out in numbers in May and vote and never forget the many sacrifices made by others to be able to enjoy the democracy we all have today.
Molokwane concluded by saying: “As Head of Africa Netball, I warmly welcome all competing countries and officials. May the game of netball emerge as the ultimate victor. Wishing you the best for the week ahead, may you give your all on the court each day and may we all enjoy a fantastic tournament. It would be wrong of me not to thank all our sponsors and stakeholders who have been a part of netball for the past 30 years, this is a level of partnership we can never take for granted. A special mention also goes to the Home of Champions, City of Tshwane for rallying behind this event and agreeing to work with Africa Netball and Netball South Africa in staging this event and to University of Pretoria, thank you for always welcoming us with open arms every time.”
"On behalf of the University of Pretoria and TuksSport we welcome all the teams to the home of the #StripeGeneration. Thank you for joining us here on the University of Pretoria’s Hillcrest Sports Campus for this prestigious competition," said Steven Ball, TuksSport Director.
"Netball is a key and important sporting code amongst our 30+ different sports on offer within TuksSport. For this reason, along with our belief in actively contributing toward the national and international agenda, becoming a partner with Netball South Africa was an easy decision to make.
"Our vision for sport at the University of Pretoria in being the leading sport university in Africa, is clear and our commitment to it achieving this through our mission and purpose will lead us to partnerships such as this both now and in the future.
"We believe that we can actively shape the conversation of sport, be a sporting leader recognised for our local relevance, national and international success, along with being a destination of choice and excellence. We wish all the teams and the organisers a special successful tournament, where high quality netball is on show as we display the power of sport and in particular netball on the African continent.
"Once again welcome to the University of Pretoria and the Home of the #StripeGeneration," he concluded.
The Baby SPAR Proteas have not participated in the Netball World Youth Cup since July 2017 where the team finished in seventh place in that tournament. Coach Precious Mthembu and her charges would be looking at ending an eight-year absence from the tournament by making sure that they qualify for the U21 global showpiece in Gibraltar next year.
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