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Petros Kausiyo
IN a pioneering move for the local grassroots game, leading development institution Legends Football Academy Zimbabwe will take some of their finest players on a tour of English Premiership side Everton.
The tour, during which, a select group of LFAZ players will get a chance to train at Everton’s Finch Farm training complex, and be assessed by the Toffees’ experts is pencilled in for next month.
LFAZ director and coach Farai Dhliwayo, while confirming the upcoming tour, told Zimpapers Sports yesterday that much detail would be revealed when they unveil the players whom they intend to take with them to England.
The visit to the English Premiership side, comes just over a year after LFAZ also took some of their promising talent for a training stint at Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon’s Cristiano Ronaldo Academy.
“Everton wanted to get a sense of the players that we are capable of developing and this will help them benchmark where we are in terms of youth development.
“Legends Football Academy Zimbabwe are looking for corporate support to fulfil this tour as it is of national importance to develop these players for the country.
“We have more than 156 kids of diverse backgrounds in our academy from Under-9 to Under-19 and 16 of them are currently on loan at professional clubs,’’ Dhliwayo said.
Player assessment is the first stage towards possible invitation for a trial stint on the part of the players, as it gives an indication of what level each individual is at in terms of the game.
The LFAZ director also indicated that they were looking at taking an initial group of five players for this ground-breaking assessment tour. LFAZ wrote their own piece of history in June when Everton announced that they had added the Eastlea-based academy as the newest member of their global affiliate programme.
“Legends Football Academy, a leading football hub in Zimbabwe, is to join forces with Everton in an exciting new partnership,’’ Everton said in a statement.
“The Harare-based organisation becomes the newest addition to Everton’s International Academy Affiliate Programme (EIAAP), which aims to expand the knowledge and expertise of Everton’s player development processes to affiliated clubs at all tiers of the game across the world.
“This includes access to the finest coaching knowledge from Everton’s renowned Academy to support with player development and growth – a level of support.
“That sets it apart from more traditional models.
“As a partner, Legends Football Academy Zimbabwe will also have full access to the Everton Academy curriculum and monthly support from a dedicated Everton Academy coach, along with the offer of technical support from Everton’s Finch Farm training complex and business and marketing support from its Royal Liver Building business headquarters.’’
Everton also added that “The two clubs will also collaborate on coach development and education’’.
And next month’s maiden tour by LFAZ players to Everton is the first major practical step to a host of collaborations being lined up between the two institutions under the auspices of the affiliate programme.
Legends Football Academy Zimbabwe were established in 2015 with the goal of developing gifted young footballers.
And Everton’s International Academy Affiliate Club programme, which is available to grassroots teams, professional sides, youth academies, girls’ and women’s teams, as well as colleges and universities, was launched in 2020.
LFAZ became the second affiliate club in Africa, following a partnership announced earlier last year with Ghana’s Ridge City Women, the first women’s club to join the programme.
The EIAAP programme also has affiliates in the US, Canada, Africa, South America, Australia and Ireland.
With LFAZ now on board, home-grown young talent now have an opportunity for direct access to the English top-flight game via one of the longest serving members of that country’s Premiership.
Online Reporter