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Innocent Kurira,Sports Reporter
REAL Betis Academy Zimbabwe chairman, Gerald Sibanda has expressed satisfaction with how the academy’s tour of Spain is progressing.
The Zimbabwean delegation, that is on a 10-day training camp in Spain, arrived in the European country on Saturday and checked in at the hotel where the Real Betis senior team was staying at the weekend ahead of their friendly match against Manchester United.
On Tuesday evening the players had a training game against Real Betis youth teams. The Under-18 match finished with a 3-2 defeat for the Zimbabweans at Universidad Pablo de Olavide.
The Zimbabwe academy had managed to go ahead by two goals but allowed the hosts to come back into the game in the later stages. Malik Moyana scored both goals with Nokutenga Mangezi providing the assists.
“I am happy with the shift the boys are giving. The boys are being assessed and the training is intense.
Personally, I have attended a conference of the Real Betis foundation where we interacted with colleagues and officials. We are happy the boys, they have done the stadium tour and they are excited with what they saw, understanding the club’s history and culture and the reality of seeing what it means and takes to become a top football player,” said Sibanda.
Some of the senior players in the academy, Mangezi, Tashinga Muzadzi, Nigel Limula and Miguel Bones, are now ready to break into the professional teams and will have special assessments under game situations.
Mangezi finished the season as the top goal scorer and was attached to Dynamos for three months. Muzadzi is the son of former Dynamos and Warriors goalkeeper Gift “Umbro” Muzadzi. He plays as a striker and is at Prince Edward High School.
Already, more than 1 000 boys and girls outside of Spain have had the chance to train under the Real Betis’ methodology. At the same time, by arriving in new countries and setting up such projects, the club is in a better position to develop commercial activities in these markets and expand its brand.
The club plans to launch a series of new initiatives in the African country to extend the Betis brand in Africa. Initially, it will provide hundreds of young people with an elite football education programme.
In 2020, Real Betis and the club’s foundation reached an agreement with Athletes Sphere Management, founded by Sibanda, former Zimbabwe rugby international player to establish the Spanish club’s first ever academy on the African continent. — @innocentskizoe
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