17 Mar 2020

Tutume football region, through Squad Academy, will this year have youth league sides for under 15 and 17 respectively.

Speaking at the selection process over the weekend, team manager Philip Ncube explained that from across different sporting codes, Tutume region has been producing athletes who made it into the national team selection, among others the likes of Isaac Makwala.

He pointed out that in football although there were young players with potential, they have not been able to get the opportunity of showcasing their talent where they could be scouted by big teams.

Ncube noted that they have through the academy embarked on a training recruitment to get young players and prepare two teams that would participate in Botswana Football Association Youth League.

He said the young players were mostly school going pupils mainly from junior secondary and few from senior schools.

He added that they have engaged parents and school management so that the sporting activities did not affect school academics of the players, noting that they were going to prepare a schedule of activities and training sessions through the year.

Furthermore, he highlighted that FIFA and BFA policies stipulated that registered teams should have development sides for under 15, 17 and 20 respectively to feed into the main squad.

He said having such players they would be able to feed into teams that required such young players more so that few teams in the premier league had development sides and such players would ultimately represent the country at national level.

Coach for the academy Morgan Makhala stated that they have selected 44 players being 22 for each category of under 15 and 17 respectively.

He further noted that they were now waiting for Francistown regional football association which their region falls under to provide them with fixtures for the season.

He also appealed for sponsorship from the business community to help build the team which they were confident would do well at regional and national level. Ends