Vusumuzi Dube
Mehluli Sibanda, Sports Editor
REAL Betis Academy Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo project is finally taking off with the first training session to take place on 11 March with a fine tuning for the Under-19s.
Former Highlanders and Zimbabwe Warriors striker Zenzo Moyo has been appointed to lead the initiative in Bulawayo, with the coaches so far being his former Bosso teammates, Johannes Ngodzo and Gift Lunga (Junior).
Gerald Sibanda, the Real Betis Academy Zimbabwe president is excited to see the Bulawayo venture finally taking off.
“We are very excited that finally we are here, we’ve been waiting for a long time for the project to kick off in Bulawayo, 11 March we will kick off with the first group, the Under-19s then after that we’ve got the public enrolling,’’ Sibanda said.
He expressed belief in the team they have managed to assemble as they look to beef up the coaching department.
“We’ve great confidence in the team that we have set up here, we’ve got confidence in Zenzo Moyo’s leadership and obviously the coaching team which we will also be beefing up, the goalkeepers department, the medical department. We look forward to an exciting chapter in Bulawayo. We are very much excited and looking forward to the growth of grassroots football in Bulawayo, working with the various stakeholders,’’ he said.
In March last year, the City of Bulawayo granted permission for the Betis Academy to hold sessions on the Barbourfields Stadium B-Arena.
“We are very grateful to the Bulawayo City Council for supporting us since the moment we arrived, we are grateful with the way this city has opened up to Betis, Real Betis is a big brand and we hope to work together with the stakeholders that are in Bulawayo football.
“There cannot be grassroots football development without Bulawayo, the great football talent like Peter Ndlovu, Benjani, they all came from this end and we look forward to unearth more great players from this region,’’ Sibanda said.
Moyo remarked “We are very excited about this big project, kids must be the winners because we want to give them the opportunities that we didn’t have while we were playing. At the end of the day we are appealing for the Bulawayo community to support this project.”
Lunga said they have been persevering enough and were happy to see things finally moving in Bulawayo.
“I am so excited that we are now going to start working here in Bulawayo after it kicked off in Harare.
We would like to thank the president Gerald Sibanda for the good work. We have been patient but now the time has come,’’ said Lunga.
Ngodzo is eager to produce players good enough to play in Spain’s La Liga where Tinotenda Kadewere is the only Zimbabwean in that league.
“We are sure some youngsters can get a chance to go and play outside, maybe in Spain, we have Kadewere playing in Spain, we want more players to go and play in Spain so this is a good start for the youngsters,’’ Ngodzo remarked.
In 2020, Real Betis partnered with Athletes Sphere Management, founded by Sibanda to establish the Spanish club’s first ever academy on the African continent.
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Online Reporter