Gqeberha’s City Lads Ladies U20 and Komani’s Maria Louw High Boys will represent the Eastern Cape at the Engen Champs of Champs in October.
The event will see reps from all the provinces duel it out from October 1 to 4 at the Tuks High Performance Centre in Pretoria.
The provincial Engen Knockout Challenge was held at Dumpy Adams in Komani (formerly Qeenstown) at the weekend, and for the second successive year, Lads won the provincial leg of the competition after being crowned champions in 2025 as well in Qonce (formerly King William’s Town).
That national tournament was eventually won by the University of Johannesburg, which will not be able to defend its national title as Gauteng will have Mamelodi Sundowns (Ladies U20) and Kaizer Chiefs (Boys U18) as reps.
City Lads could not proceed past the group stages nationally last year.
They only registered one win in their three matches.
Having gained that experience last year, they will hope to go a step further.
Their form this past weekend was immaculate provincially.
They beat the Chilli Girls 7-1, smashed Phoenix Birds 6-0 before edging Ayakha Stars 2-1 in the final.
Maria Louw beat Highbury 1-0 in the final.
They played Major Chiefs and Chippa United on their road to the final.
Maria Louw will hope to follow in the footsteps of Chippa United, who last year almost went all the way but stumbled in the national final.
They were beaten by Cape Town City.
The Citizens will not feature in this year’s tournament.
The Western Cape will have new reps: Antalyaspor JPM (Boys) and RV United (Girls).
Antalyaspor claimed the boys title after a penalty shootout against Ubuntu Football Academy.
RV United took the girls title, ending Cape Town Roses’ four-year streak.
For KwaZulu-Natal, it will be AmaZulu (U18 Boys) and Toti Ladies (U20 Girls).
Other province reps are yet to be determined as some are yet to play their deciders.