FROM THE GROUND UP

Westbury has produced some of South Africa's top footballers and now has a club in the professional ranks to nurture more talent from the area.

- Mo Allie

Almost immediately after the club won promotion to the second-tier Motsepe Foundation Championship, La Masia chairman Nazeer Baker was inundated with offers from all over the country to buy the team's status.

The approaches were not surprising given how frequently franchises have changed hands in South African football, especially in the National First Division (NFD) where the cost of running a club can be draining on the owner's pocket.

But with the long-term plan being for his team to eventually reach the PSL, Baker was firm in turning down the advances.

"After winning the [play-off] semifinals, we got calls from all over South Africa. I got calls from player agents. All of a sudden, people got my number; I don't know where they got it from," he told iDiski Times.

La Masia won the ABC Motsepe League's national title in June after beating Limpopo's Magesi FC 1-0 in the final of a competition that features the winners of SAFA's nine provinces, with the top two finishers securing promotion to the NFD.