In preparation for the upcoming 2024/15 season, a DStv Premiership side TS Galaxy will host a Bundesliga club in the inaugural Mpumalanga Premier's International Tournament.
This marks a return of big-name European teams to South Africa, following past tournaments like the Vodacom Challenge that featured Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.
In 2013, City also visited AmaZulu and SuperSport United before the start of the 2013/14 season.
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FC Augsburg will be making history by holding their first-ever summer training camp outside of Europe. They'll be in South Africa from July 18th to 28th and take part in the Mpumalanga Premier’s Tournament.
This annual tournament, spearheaded by TS Galaxy, aims to host a European club every year.
During the launch, TS Galaxy chairman Tim Sukazi expressed his desire to expand the tournament from two to four teams. Ideally, they would include another South African team alongside a second European club.
“We are here today for the announcement of the inaugural Mpumalanga Premier's International Tournament 2024. It's a tournament that will see TS Galaxy locking horns with FC Augsburg which is a German Bundesliga club,” Sukazi said as per SABC Sport.
“While the main launch is TS Galaxy and FC Augsburg but we intend to have it as a four-team tournament and in that end we are in talks with some of our sister clubs in South Africa but in our ideal world we'll have a second European club, so we can have two South African clubs and a European club.”
During their stay in South Africa, Augsburg will be in White River, Mpumalanga which is a small holiday and farming town situated just north of Mbombela in Mpumalanga.
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The tournament will take place at the Mbombela Stadium, one of the venues for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
FC Augsburg CEO Michael Ströll sees this trip as an opportunity to represent the Bundesliga well and increase its popularity in South Africa.
“We’re really looking forward to the upcoming trip abroad to South Africa. The province of Mpumalanga offers us an environment in which we can prepare really well for the new season in the shape of White River,” said Ströll
“In our conversations with the local authorities, it impressed us how much effort they’ve put in for us to be able to come to South Africa for the first time. The trip will certainly be a valuable and enriching experience for our whole team. Additionally, we’d like to do our bit in representing the Bundesliga abroad and continue to increase its global popularity with our stay in South Africa.”
