The Wizard and the Pastor are still making players
The Engen Knockout Challenge is not only a shop window for kids. In eThekwini, the old heads are back on the touchline.
A month after the SAFA eThekwini leg, two familiar names were doing the real work: Philani “Dribbling Wizard” Shange with AmaZulu Youth Academy Under-17s, and Ayanda “Pastor Malume” Gcaba with Senzokuhle FC.
They are not there for nostalgia. They are building the next wave.
Gcaba’s reason is blunt. Football made him. Leadership kept him in it.
“I decided to become a coach after my playing career because I’ve always loved sport,” the former Pirates and Free State Stars defender said. “Through football, I was able to make a name for myself, and I’ve always seen myself as a leader.”
He knows what the jump costs. Sacrifice. Discipline. The unglamorous hours. That is what he is handing down.
Shange, once Golden Arrows’ crowd-pleaser, is doing the same with AmaZulu’s teenagers: turning flair into habits that last.
That is the tournament’s quiet power. Young players get a stage. Retired pros keep the knowledge in the game. Professionalism, teamwork and leadership are not slogans here. They are coached in.
The 2026 theme says it plainly: Where Diski Legends Start.
In Durban, they started with a Wizard and a Pastor still on the grass.
