Massachusetts Adult Soccer

The New England Breakers at halftime of a match during the 2025 Grannies International Football Tournament in South Africa. Ilan Godfrey for The Boston Globe

By Ryan Lenora Brown (Boston Globe)

The starting squad of the New England Breakers stands on the center line of a soccer field in Tzaneen, South Africa, arms slung over one another’s backs, bouncing nervously on the balls of their feet.

On this humid April day, hundreds of fans have risen from their grandstand seats, yelling with voices scratched raw from four days of cheering. A chorus of vuvuzelas wails in the background. The commentator screams over a loudspeaker. The crowd drowns him out.

Everything comes down to this: the deciding shot in the final game of the international tournament that has brought the Breakers from Massachusetts to this scruffy South African farming town half a world away.

Four days ago, there were 19 squads from seven countries in the running. Now it’s down to the Breakers and a French team called Les Z’amies Foot, the Football Friends, with a penalty shootout to determine the champion.

None of this seems real for these New England athletes, who, not long ago, were whacking chunks of ice off a field at Needham’s Memorial Park so they could play pickup games no one watched, whose scores no one would remember.

Since arriving in Tzaneen, they’ve been treated like professionals, marching onto the pitch to the chords of the FIFA anthem, an American flag held high in the air in front of them. The stands have been packed. “She’s the USA’s Messi,” the commentator exclaims during one game as Breakers forward Pam Woodworth shoots past three opponents with quick, tight dribbles.

Pam Woodworth of the New England Breakers dribbles past players from Togo in the Grannies International Football Tournament. Ilan Godfrey for The Boston Globe

The difference — one of them anyway — between the Argentine legend and the American, formerly of Newton and now living in New York, is more than three decades. Woodworth, who pulls her bright white hair in a ponytail, is 72. One-third of the Breakers lineup is over 70, and none is younger than 50. And this is not the FIFA World Cup — it’s the Grannies International Football Tournament.

To continue reading visit: New England Breakers play in Grannies International Football Tournament

Elaine McCabe, holding the American flag, and more of the Soccer Sisters team with a South African squad at the tournament’s opening parade. Ilan Godfrey for The Boston Globe

April 13, 20258:49 AM ET

By Ryan Lenora Brown Photos by Samantha Reinders

TZANEEN, SOUTH AFRICA — The stands of the soccer stadium buzzed with anticipation. Vuvuzelas honked like a chorus of drunk geese, and spectators chattered excitedly. The teams were about to take the pitch.

But first, match officials had some business to attend to. They hunched over a stack of passports, carefully checking the teams' credentials. "We don't want to see underage players," one official explained gravely.

Welcome to the Grannies International Football Tournament, or GIFT, where you're never too old to play. But you may well be too young.

To continue reading, click here: Soccer for 'grannies' -- it's fierce and it's fun : Goats and Soda : NPR

Sore knees, selfies and a sexagenarian goal machine: The recent Grannies International Football Tournament had it all

China Daily | Updated: 2025-05-02 08:09

Mbele Nonhlanhla laced up her silver soccer boots as her coach shouted encouragement to players with creaky knees, stiff backs and labored breathing in a dressing room in South Africa's far north.

At 63, wearing number 10 and sporting brown-dyed hair, the grandmother of seven was far from your typical soccer player when she stepped onto the field for her first international tournament.

"I feel like a superstar," Nonhlanhla grinned, revealing a missing tooth. "They call me the goal machine."

Her team, Vuka Soweto, hails from the renowned Johannesburg township of the same name.

It had joined more than a dozen others from across Africa and beyond to compete at the Grannies International Football Tournament in South Africa's northern province of Limpopo in April.

The four-day "Grannies World Cup" was held in a stadium with sweeping mountain views.

The 30-minute games were played in two halves at a slow, but purposeful pace, between teams from as far afield as the United States, France and Togo.

Continue reading by clicking here: Goal-den oldies are on top of the world - Chinadaily.com.cn

Players of the New England Breakers from the United States lift the "Grannies World Cup" in celebration after beating France's Les Zamies Foot on penalties in the final on April 5 in Tzaneen, South Africa. AFP