adminMehluli Sibanda Acting Sports Editor
SPANISH soccer giants Barcelona will send their coaching personnel to Zimbabwe in July to impart some of their knowledge to the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League coaches.
The visit to Zimbabwe by the Barcelona coaches is part of the benefits to the Zimbabwean market of the three year partnership sealed in July last year between the Spanish football club and SABMiller which made Castle Lager the official beer in Africa for Barcelona.
In commercial terms, the deal gave Castle Lager leverage on any activity carried out by Barcelona across the African continent.
With Castle Lager being the official sponsor of the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League, the local premiership coaches will get an opportunity to get training from their Barcelona counterparts during the Spanish La Liga off season.
Patricia Murambinda, the Delta Beverages marketing manager disclosed that the coaches will be in the country in July to conduct a coaching clinic for the 16 PSL coaches and their backup staff.
“In July we will have a coaching clinic for our PSL league facilitated by the Barcelona team. This clinic will be for our 16 PSL coaches and their technical teams. This will be for twoto three days and the finer details will be released shortly at a Press Conference,’’ said Murambinda. She was, however, not in a position to give out the names of the Barcelona coaches coming to Zimbabwe since the Spanish giants are yet to release the names.
The results of the partnership between SABMiller and Barcelona are already being seen on the Zimbabwean market. Murambinda is part of a Zimbabwean delegation which is in Spain and watched the Barcelona home match against Getafe at the Nou Camp yesterday. The group of 16 Zimbabweans led by a senior Delta Beverages official Munyaradzi Nyandoro has 14 customers drawn from all over the country who were rewarded for pushing the most Castle Lager volumes.
In addition, Murambinda said they were hoping to send the 2014 Castle Soccer Star of the Year as well as the Under-20 Player of the Year to Barcelona to get trained by coaches from the Catalan giants.
Online Reporter