The Gauteng department of education has joined forces with the Willowton Group to form the Sunfoil Schools League aimed at unearthing raw football talent.

The league will be contested by 14 Soweto primary schools from Saturday until November. It is an Under-12 tournament for both boys and girls.

In an attempt to make the schools league popular, the department and the sponsors have invited SuperSport United's Dean Furman and Reneilwe Letsholonyane to be the ambassadors of the league.

The duo was present at the official launch at Soweto's Nike Centre in Pimville this week.

Letsholonyane urged the pupils to make the most of this opportunity, explaining that during his youth such opportunities were not available.

The Matsatsantsa A Pitori midfielder, who hails from Jabavu, Soweto was also eager to mentor some of the youngsters who will be taking part in the new league.

"These kids must grab this opportunity with both hands," Letsholonyane said.

"When we grew up, we only dreamt about backing from [the] sponsors. We hope that other big companies will also come on board [and support this initiative]."

David Sweidan, group executive of marketing at Willowton, said the company's main objective was to push for growth of soccer in township schools and to encourage participating pupils in becoming future professional soccer players.

"This schools' league is part of our programmes to uplift the communities who support us by buying our products," Sweidan said.

"We linked up with Gauteng's department of education to unearth raw football talent. At this stage, the tournament will only take place in Soweto, but we hope to spread it countrywide later," he said.