SALM TEAM 
South African gamers are no stranger to the world stage, and in the coming weeks, we will see the SA flag flown high in Saudi Arabia at major esports tournaments.
Callym Beukes, competitive Tekken player for Goliath Gaming
Callym Beukes, competitive Tekken player for Goliath Gaming (GG), will be captaining the SA representative team in the TEKKEN 7 Nations Cup being held at Gamers8, one of the biggest esports events in the world. After a first edition in 2022, Saudi Arabian gaming and esports festival Gamers8 has returned with an event dubbed ‘The Land of Heroes’. Organised by the Saudi Esports Federation, the festival will take place over eight weeks and will include esports tournaments, music concerts, festival activities, and the Next World Forum conference. Callym and team SA will compete for their share of a $1million prize pool in the Tekken tournament taking place between 6-9 July 2023 at the festival.
This is not Callym’s first time competing on the global stage. Earlier this year he flew the SA flag high in Amsterdam during the Tekken World Tour Final, competing for a share of the $100 000 prize pool.
Also representing SA in Saudi Arabia is Julio ‘Beast’ Bianchi, Thabo ‘Yvng Savage’ Moloi, Zaid April (all competitive FIFA players for Goliath Gaming) and Kaylan Moodley. Julio (captain of Goliath Gaming’s FIFA squad) and Kaylan will be representing Goliath Gaming (currently ranked #25 in the world in the official FIFAe team rankings) in the FIFAe Club World Cup – the pinnacle event for competitive FIFA esports clubs happening from 6-9 July 2023, with a prize pool of $1million.
Julio ‘Beast’ Bianchi, captain of the Goliath Gaming FIFA squad
Following the FIFAe Club World Cup, Julio and Kaylan, along with Zaid and Thabo will compete in the official FIFAe Nations Cup from 11-14 July 2023 with the aim of taking team SA to victory and scoring a share of the $1million prize pool. Team South Africa’s FIFAe team is currently sitting at #29 in the world on the official FIFAe Nations rankings.
Outside of the major esports events taking place in Saudi Arabia:
• Busisiwe Masango-Steenkamp (competitive FIFA player for GG) recently participated in the FIFA Fame Her Game bootcamp in Zurich.
• Jabhi ‘JabhiM’ Mabuza (competitive Street Fighter player for GG) firmly cemented SA on the global Street Fighter map at the major Capcom Cup tournament in Los Angeles earlier this year; as well as representing South Africa at Red Bull Kumite (which took place in SA for the first time in 2023) and finished in the top 8 in the world.
For the latest updates and stream links to support the SA esports athletes, be sure to follow:
• https://twitter.com/GoliathGamingZA
• https://www.facebook.com/GoliathGamingZA
• https://www.instagram.com/goliathgamingza/
Busisiwe Masango-Steenkamp at the FIFA Fame Her Game bootcamp in Zurich in June 2023
Jabhi ‘JabhiM’ Mabuza at Red Bull Kumite in Pretoria in July 2023
