The North-West University (NWU) Soccer Institute will lock horns with PSL giants Kaizer Chiefs Football Club on 1 December in the annual McDonald’s Mahikeng HIV/Aids school soccer tournament to be held at Montshiwa stadium to commemorate World Aids Day.

The participants in this year’s tournament will also include four under-14 high school soccer teams from neighbouring villages.

The primary purpose of the event is to raise awareness about the HIV/Aids pandemic through football, as well as create platforms for high school soccer teams and coaches to receive training and attend coaching clinics. It is also part of a McDonald’s drive to give back to the communities in which it operates.

The programme will start at 08:00 with soccer legends offering coaching clinics at disadvantaged schools, followed by a visit to the HIV/Aids Ward at Bophelong Provincial Hospital.

The game between Kaizer Chiefs and the NWU Soccer Institute will be preceded by games between Lekoko and Podile primary schools, Thuto Boswa and Melorane primary schools and Masters games.

The main game is expected to start at 17:00.

McDonald’s South Africa and the NWU’s School of Nursing will be represented.

“This will be our third event and we will again visit patients living with HIV/Aids and donate toiletries and other items to them,” says Dumisani Mogorosi from McDonalds.

On the soccer field, the players will represent Kaizer Chiefs, North-West University teams, Gauteng Province Masters teams and four high school teams.

The NWU, through its campus in Vanderbijlpark, has had a unique partnership with Kaizer Chiefs since October 2013. This partnership sees the university availing its expertise to benefit young talented footballers at the club’s Youth Academy in Johannesburg.