Junior soccer players from Italy's Inter Milan, Boca Juniors from Argentina and Corinthians of Brazil will take part in the Gauteng Future Champions tournament in Soweto from March 23 to 28.

They will join another nine teams in this competition that is hosted by the Gauteng department of sports, arts, culture and recreation.

Barbara Creecy, MEC for sports, arts, culture and recreation, said the aim is to create a bigger pool of players for Bafana Bafana during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Creecy and her team are also funding several other community upliftment projects.

The Gauteng government will also use the new development tournament to promote the province ahead of the Confederations Cup and World Cup.

Phil Mogodi, Safa Soweto's chief executive, said the tournament will be launched at their offices on Friday morning.

"It's a great platform for us in Gauteng to promote our province ahead of the World Cup."

Locally, Kaizer Chiefs, Moroka Swallows, Joburg region and Sedibeng region will represent South Africa in this competition.

In other parts of Southern Africa, K Stars (Zambia) and Notwane (Botwana) have already confirmed their participation.

Other clubs from across the globe taking part are Esperance (Tunisia), Green Team (China) and Mombay Academy (India).