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30 September 2021 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Varsity Sports
Thabo Lesibe, captain of the UFS team, on his way to score the winning goal against Tuks in the semi-final of Varsity Football.


To finish his very last match for the Kovsies as the winning captain of Varsity Football would mean the world to him, says Thabo Lesibe.

The University of the Free State (UFS) men’s team reached the final of Varsity Football for the very first time. They will face the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in Pretoria on Monday, 4 October 2021. The match gets underway at 19:15.

The UFS booked their spot in the final thanks to a 2-1 victory over Tuks in Tuesday’s semi-final.

“It would certainly be the cherry on the cake and the best possible way for me to bow out,” Lesibe said. He is in his final year of study for a Bachelor of Laws, which he started in 2015. Lesibe was responsible for scoring the winning goal from a penalty against Tuks. 

On their way to the semi-finals, Kovsies also defeated the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Tuks, and Wits and drew against the North-West University (NWU), Tshwane University of Technology, and the Vaal University of Technology. Their only loss was against UJ (0-1).

“It feels amazing to reach the final. We are all very excited. There is a strong unity in the camp and a common belief. We are playing for something far greater than the eye can see,” the captain said.

According to Lesibe, the pain of 2019 has been a motivator for them in 2021. In the 2019 Varsity Football competition, Kovsies and NWU finished level on log points and with the same goal difference, but NWU progressed to the semis courtesy of scoring nine goals to the UFS’s eight in the group stage.

“When it gets tough on the playing field, we remind ourselves of that disappointment which propelled us, as we did not want to experience that pain again.”

Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, congratulated the team on a successful Varsity Football season. 
“This is a great achievement for the team as well as for the university. You have shown once again that the University of the Free State is home to top sports stars. Following the victory of our Kovsie Netball team, we look forward to adding another title to our sporting achievements this year.”

News Archive

Messages and mail – what people say about Kovsies
2014-10-02

 
Letters from Kovsie students, parents, the community and even visitors to our university from across the globe regularly pour into our mailboxes and onto our social media pages.

To give you a glimpse of what they say about our institution, here are a few examples:

•    If you continue with this innovative thinking then the UFS will soon become the Ivy League institution of South Africa. – Chris Abels, United Kingdom

•    My daughter loves Kovsies. She has really come out of her shell as a result of the wonderful environment created by Kovsie leaders. She is flourishing and has for the second year in a row achieved the distinction of being a top academic student. Once again, thank you for your kind assistance which clearly indicates to me that Kovsies treat their students like family and not merely a number. – Grant Combrink, Port Elizabeth

•    The state of the University of Free State inspired me to go back to school and do my law degree. The cleanliness and the mood of the institution was inspirational and not only to me but also to a few of my colleagues. – Joseph Peter Kgomo, a journalist with the public broadcaster

•    I arrived in Bloemfontein to begin a one year appointment as a Fulbright Scholar. I have remarked to friends and colleagues in America that we can learn a great deal about hospitality towards our foreign visitors by embodying the altruism demonstrated throughout your campus. Thank you for the opportunity to become a Kovsie. – Professor Brenda C Eppley, Professor at Area Community College in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

•    I would like to congratulate you on the job well done regarding transformation and integration thereof. Indeed, the UFS that I am in is not the UOVS that I was in. – Tefo Masoetsa

•    I attended the Oprah Winfrey graduation ceremony in 2009 and when Dr Desmond Tutu received his honorary Doctorate. On both occasions one felt something big and miraculous was happening and many in the audience were moved. You are doing something down there in the Free State that really deserves attention! – Joy Summers, Producer: Carte Blanche

•    There will be much more hurt before our country is healed, but it will be the Kovsie doctors, psychiatrists and teachers applying the plasters and it will be the Kovsie architects, quantity surveyors, jurists and farmers building and regulating a new country. – Marzanne Lombard, proud former member of Soetdoring and Welwitschia Residences

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