Keorapetse Molete and Neo Makua are two of the latest former Varsity Football players to have made the step-up into the professional ranks after the duo signed professional contracts with Ajax Cape Town.
Molete represented Wits University in the 2013 edition of the competition and his exploits saw him being turn out in the colours of Bidvest Wits, in their lower teams. The 23-year-old had a previous trial with Ajax last season and was then re-invited this season.
Makua was part of Wits' Varsity Football team from 2013 until 2015 and played an instrumental part in helping the students reach the semifinal stage of the 2015 edition of the competition. The 23-year-old is a skillful wing and showed his mettle by bagging four goals in two pre-season training matches.
Both Molete and Makua have not only benefitted from the exposure they received from the Varsity Football competition but have also benefitted from the strict academic requirements needed to be able to participate in the competition.
Molete graduated in 2015 with a BA degree while Makua boasts a BSc Honours Degree in Quantity Surveying.
The pair now joins an elite group of players that includes the likes of Supersport United's Thabo Mnyamane, Highland Park's Grant Bruchhausen and Jomo Cosmos' Jarred Meyer, to name but a few, who have graduated from the Varsity Football competition.
Wits coach Karabo Mogodi has always been an advocate for developing a complete footballer, one who has an academic qualification behind his name so that he may have something to fall back on when the time comes to retire from the life of a professional footballer.
Another advocate for producing a complete footballer is TUT coach Bushy Moloi, who drives home the importance of education into each member of his squad.
"I believe that a well-rounded player, in the sense that they have a degree or diploma, can also play wonderful football because they will have a basic understanding of the game," Moloi said.
