Stellenbosch Football Club was crowned the 2024 Premier League Next Generation Cup champion following a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the UK on Sunday (4 August).
Having won the 2023-’24 DStv Diski Challenge title in May, for the Stellenbosch FC’s reserve team this is yet another medal, winning the prestigious Premier League Next Generation Cup title to add to their collection.
Evangelos Vellios’ side overcame Spurs, who they had previously also defeated in the group stage, in the final of the competition by recording a 2-0 victory, courtesy of goals by captain Shaakir Ahmed and Kyle Bailey.
Sunday’s triumph saw the South African team continue their proud tradition at the tourney, where they had previously ended runners-up in 2023, following a penalty shoot-out defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers and as champions the year before after a 7-2 triumph over Leicester City.
This time around, Stellies opened the competition with a 1-0 win over Spurs, benefiting from an own goal to claim victory, before recording wins over Aston Villa and Crystal Palace by the same scoreline in their other two group stage matches in Birmingham.
It set up the showpiece final at the Loughborough University Stadium, where Stellies made it a perfect four wins from four, without conceding a goal for good measure, to walk away as this year’s Next Gen champs.
Meanwhile, back on home soil Stellenbosch FC also advanced to the semi-finals of the 2024 MTN8 competition after the first team defeated TS Galaxy at Danie Craven Stadium on Sunday.
The team from the Cape Winelands opened their account for the 2024-’25 season in style after goals from Jayden Adams, André de Jong, and Fawaaz Basadien earned a 3-1 win over their opponents from Nelspruit, Mpumalanga.
After Sunday’s victory Stellies advanced to the semi-final of the MTN8 for the second season in a row, having reached and fallen at the same stage of the competition last year following a narrow 2-2 aggregate defeat to Orlando Pirates on the away-goals rule.
Stellenbosch will next be in action on Saturday 17 August, when they travel to Durban to take on Eswatini’s Nsingizini Hotspurs in the CAF Confederation Cup first preliminary round.
