The Vodacom Challenge was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

pre-season tournament that featured

Vodacom Vodacom Group Limited is a South-Western African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 55 million customers. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to include ...

-sponsored

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n clubs

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...

and Kaizer Chiefs plus from 2006 onwards an invited

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an club. Prior to 2006, the competition consisted of the two

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

giants and two invited

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n clubs.

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

became the first non-African team to win the competition in 2007. According to the tournament promoter, Jabu Mathibela the tournament was cancelled due to "time constraints" before the 2012 season would have commenced.

Vodacom Challenge Final with African Teams

Vodacom Challenge Results with European Teams

Invited African clubs

1999

* ASEC Mimosas *

Esperance de Tunis Esperance may refer to: * Esperance (town), New York * Esperance (village), New York * Esperance, Quartier Militaire (village), Quartier Militaire, Moka, Mauritius * Esperance, Washington * Esperance, Western Australia Esperance is a tow ...

2000

Africa Sports Africa Sports d'Abidjan is an Ivorian multi-sports club founded in 1947 and based in Abidjan. The club fields teams in the sports of track and field, handball, basketball and association football, of these the football team is the most promine ...

* Dynamos FC

2001

* Asante Kotoko * Hearts of Oak

2002

* Asante Kotoko * FC St. Eloi Lupopo

2003

TP Mazembe Tout Puissant Mazembe, commonly referred to as TP Mazembe, is a Congolese professional football club based in Lubumbashi. History Tout Puissant Mazembe, the first sports club from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a value of at least $10 ...

* FC St. Eloi Lupopo

2004

* AS Vita Club *

2005

* AS Vita Club *

Green Buffaloes Green Buffaloes Football Club is a Zambia Army-sponsored football team which was founded in 1965 as Zambian Army and later changed to Green Buffaloes FC. Green Buffaloes is one of the most successful club in the history of Zambian football and dom ...

Invited European clubs

2006

* Manchester United

2007

2008

* Manchester United

2009

* Manchester City

2011

References

External links

Vodacom Challenge Official WebsiteVodacom Official WebsitePremier Soccer LeagueSouth African Football AssociationConfederation of African Football
{{South African soccer seasons South African soccer friendly trophies