The 22nd St David’s Marist Inanda Challenge Cup kicked off on Friday with 50 teams from across South Africa, featuring 864 players and officials, set to play 132 matches over three days.
The event, hosted on six fields at the St David’s Marist Inanda campus, runs through to Sunday and includes two U19 sections, along with an U15 and U12 competition.
It continues to go from strength to strength, which was evident in its new partnerships with Adidas and Orlando Pirates, the champions of the 2025/26 Betway Premiership.
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In Group A, the hosts, St David’s Marist Inanda, and St Alban’s College both went two for two on Friday, setting the stage for an exciting showdown on Saturday for first place in the group.
St David’s opened their challenge with a 2-0 win over Norkem Park High and followed that with a convincing 6-0 defeat of Marist Brothers Linmeyer. St Alban’s, meanwhile, beat Marist Brothers Linmeyer 3-1 and Norkem Park 1-0.
In Group B, the situation is not as clear-cut as in Group A. St John’s College won a tough opener, edging out St Andrew’s College 3-2. In their second match, St John’s College was held to a 1-1 draw by St Peter’s College.
St Stithians College, a school with a strong football pedigree, was held to successive draws. They finished goalless against St Peter’s College before playing to a 2-2 draw with St Andrew’s College.
In Group C, the goals flowed. Hilton College overran St Andrew’s School 7-0, and King Edward VII (KES) thumped the Bloemfontein boys 5-0.
It wasn’t plain sailing for KES, however. They fell 0-1 to Grey College in their opener, while Grey beat Hilton College by the same score.
In Group D, Michaelhouse surprised an in-form Jeppe High School for Boys’ side, winning 1-0. Jeppe responded strongly with a 6-1 win over Springs Boys’ High.
Springs had earlier lost 1-2 to St Benedict’s College. Bennies also won against Michaelhouse, scoring the only goal of the game.
RESULTS
Group A
St Alban’s 3-1 Marist Brothers Linmeyer
St David’s 2-0 Norkem Park
St Alban’s 1-0 Norkem Park
St David’s 6-0 Marist Brothers Linmeyer
Group B
St John’s College 3-2 St Andrew’s College
St Stithians College 0-0 St Peter’s College
St John’s College 1-1 St Peter’s College
St Stithians College 2-2 St Andrew’s College
Group C
Hilton College 7-0 Andrew’s School
Grey College 1-0 KES
Grey College 1-0 Hilton College
KES 5-0 St Andrew’s School
Group D
Michaelhouse 1-0 Jeppe
St Benedict’s 2-1 Springs Boys’ High
Jeppe 6-1 Springs Boys High
St Benedict’s 1-0 Michaelhouse
