Africa Football Trials (AFT) in partnership with UK Football trials are set to hold a five-day training camp as they seek to give equal scouting opportunities to upcoming players in the country.
The inaugural trials have been set for December 16 to 20.
According to the chairperson of AFT, Gift Mabvudza, the football trials seek to give equal opportunities to each budding football a chance to be scouted by international football clubs.
“We want to create a platform for talented African players, giving them the opportunity to fulfil their dreams of playing football at the highest level.
“It is very expensive for our kids. We do not have the resources to be able to fly to Europe to attend camps and trials and the idea and objective of UK Football Trials partnering with AFT is to bring the camps to Africa and make it accessible to everyone,” said Mabvudza.
He added that with cases of parents having been duped by local agents and academies to pay cash for international trips and made to believe that children will undergo trials, the partnership between AFT and Football trials will seek to address the issues.
“We have had issues where parents had to fork out large amounts of money and be made to believe that their children will attend trials, which is not easy as it seems.
“As AFT this is an area which we want to address,” he said.
- AFT to hold inaugural football trials
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He added that the football trials camp will bridge the gap between local talented players and international scouts.
“Worldwide a lot of talented players never get the opportunity to be seen by an international scout or even local scouts because they live in the most remote areas of their countries or come from disadvantaged communities.
“As AFT we want to be the link between upcoming African players, scouts, professional and semiprofessional clubs and bridge the gap between the developed countries and Africa in respect of football development,” said Mabvudza.
The trials camp will comprise six age groups namely 13-14 years,14-15 years, 15-16 years, 16-17 years, 17-18 years and 18-21 years.
“The trials will be held over five days with the first three days dedicated to training in which the scouts and coaches will select at least 24 players from each of the available age groups.
“On the fourth and fifth day the selected players will be engaged in a game situation under video with personalised numbers which will be used for identification
“The videos will then be sent to the UK Football Trials and clubs where the scouts will have a look at the footage and if they are interested in a player they will revert back to us and we will then send a player for further trials there,” said Mabvudza.
He revealed that starting next AFT will launch a sixteen team U-17 league.
“Plans are underway for the launch of an U-17 league next year,” he said.
