New England Breakers beat Les Zamies on penalties to win 2025 Grannies tournament in South Africa

The New England Breakers defeated Les Zamies from France in a penalty shootout to win the 2025 Grannies International Football Tournament in Tzaneen, South Africa. The tournament took place over four days in early April. Teams from the United States, France, Togo, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, and multiple South African squads participated.

Match officials checked passports before games to enforce the minimum age of 50. One official said they did not want to see underage players. Sue "Clip" Clippinger, 78, scored the opening goal for the New England Breakers against Togo.

She drove a hard, high shot into the left corner of the net. Laurance Gonzalez, 58, of Les Zamies Foot from France, won the award for best overall player. Nomsa Mashego, 58, a grandmother of two from South Africa's Mbombela team, received the most promising player award.

She said she suffered a stroke in 2006 that partially paralyzed her and that her arms and leg are now 100 percent recovered because she plays soccer. Team Zambia's bus broke down in southern Zimbabwe, 200 miles from the South African border. m.

On the first day of the tournament. They played two games and narrowly missed a quarterfinal berth. Lillian Zulu, 54, captain of the Zambian team and a chef by profession, said the team practiced together four times a week before the tournament.

Beka Ntsanwisi organized the first granny soccer league in Tzaneen in 2007. She turned 57 on the last day of the 2025 tournament. Rossina Mathye, 84, was one of the original Vakhegula Vakhegula players from Tzaneen.

She traveled to the United States in 2010 to play in a special match for older women. She stopped playing because her knees are sore. Fikile Sithole was part of South Africa's first women's national soccer team in the 1990s.