Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
VILLARREAL are coming to Harare with a clear brief, find one Zimbabwean teenager good enough to take to Spain.
The LaLiga side will run a three-day high-intensity camp from April 28, led by their technical coaches Carlos Ortiz and Vicky Yarnold, and at the end of it, one player will be picked for further assessment within the club’s system.
That player will travel to Spain in August for a Villarreal tournament, where the real test begins. Impress there and the pathway opens, fail and the opportunity closes just as quickly. This is not a courtesy visit. It is a recruitment mission.
The Yellow Submarine are also set to formally cement their footprint in Zimbabwe through a new academy structure, built in partnership with Athletes Sphere Global, as they quietly push into a market that has largely remained untapped by Spanish clubs.
For Zimbabwean football, the door has barely been open. Only Tinotenda Kadewere has featured in Spain’s top flight in recent years, during his loan spell at Mallorca from Lyon, a reminder of how rare the route has been. Villarreal now appear ready to test that ceiling.
Athletes Sphere Global director Gerald Sibanda believes the camp could reshape how local talent is developed.
“As Athletes Sphere Global, we are more than excited with the coming of Villarreal Academy coaches to conduct a three-day camp.
“The camp will give us the direction or template to work on because we need to be always in sync with how Villarreal do business. I mean the philosophy and everything else. I am glad to share with you that one of our players who is going to impress during the camp will be selected for a Villarreal tournament in Spain.
“If he impresses, then they will assimilate him in the system. The development will be good for us and it will be good to Zimbabwe as well.
“There are so many Africans at Villarreal and we are happy that they have now decided to also look at Zimbabwe, which is excellent.
“We are delighted to collaborate with Villarreal CF for the next chapter of our football development programs for Zimbabwe. It’s a great honour working with a massive club in Spain and UEFA competitions.
“Our affiliation with Spanish football brings identity and investor confidence in our sports brand Athletes Sphere Global. It’s another step forward towards promoting our beautiful country Zimbabwe as a global destination for football and sports development.”
The link has already started to move both ways.
Earlier this year, two Zimbabwean coaches, including Chicken Inn coach Tonderai Ndiraya, travelled to Spain for attachment programmes at Villarreal, part of a wider exchange that goes beyond just players.
Villarreal’s international business manager Brandon Páramo says this is only the starting point. “It’s great to collaborate in this first camp in Zimbabwe in partnership with Athletes Sphere Global. Through this initiative, we aim to share Villarreal CF’s methodology with international players, supporting their development by providing a unique opportunity to learn directly from our coaches.
“This is just the beginning of our journey in the region, and we look forward to expanding our collaboration, creating further opportunities both on the sporting and commercial fronts in the near future.”
