Witness the cultural importance of soccer in township SouthAfrica during the first ever FIFA World Cup to be held inAfrica through the lives of five individuals born and raisedin the oldest and toughest of South Africa's townships,Alexandra, locally known as 'Alex.' Seventeen-year-olddribbling sensation Nancy 'Maradona' Majola, former nationalteam player Isaac 'Shakes' Kungoane, current professionalPatrick Phunwayo, 69-year-old Jacob 'Babes' Bopape one ofthe first professional soccer players in South Africa, andscholarship-winner Ricardo 'Rico' Kutumela will all take youinto a culture dominated by soccer and into a storiedtownship still largely unknown and misunderstood even amongSouth Africans. Race. Class. Poverty. Faith. Hope. Soccer.With soccer in township South Africa and the first ever FIFAWorld Cup in Africa as a lens, witness the ongoingtransition from apartheid South Africa within a townshiplargely misunderstood even by South Africans. Soccer City isa collection of profiles of five individuals born and raisedin the oldest and most notorious of South Africas townships,Alexandra, locally known as Alex. Seventeen year-olddribbling sensation and goal-scorer Nancy Maradona Majolafights physical, financial and equal rights adversity of allkinds as a young woman in a sport still dominated by men.One day, she says, she will make it and play for BanyanaBanyana (the womens national team). Soccer issuper-charming, twenty-one year-old Ricardo Rico Kutumelaspride and joy yet he abandoned professional aspirations totry to win a prestigious scholarship to an Afrikaansuniversity. He succeeded. He works for a TV ad agency andflashes his incredible smile for companies like MTN. Helives and says he will always live in Alex. One of the mostfamous professional soccer players in South African history,forty year-old Isaac Shakes Kungwane has long since retiredand is all too familiar with the politics of football inSouth Africa but is part of a big family, is still hustling,still laughing, and still partying. Twenty-one year-olddefender Patrick Phungwayo is one of five professionalfootballers in Alex and something of a celebrity. A leftback for BIDVest Wits, he was voted young player of the yearlast season, has played against national teams and may havea real shot at every kids dreamplaying professional socceroverseas. Sixty-nine year-old Jacob Babes Bopape was one ofSouth Africas first professional footballers. He has livedmost of his life within the unjust system that was ApartheidSouth Africa and has also witnessed the countrys inspiringtransition to an equal and democratic nation and he has thenear photographic memory to prove it. Full of hope andfaith, he is also inescapably scarred by the years ofinjustice and oppression.
