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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

REAL Betis Academy Zimbabwe intends to send players from their Bulawayo project to a tour of Spain before the end of the year.

The academy has adjusted their operations in the city for the year 2024.

Betis academy Zimbabwe, chairman Gerald Sibanda confirmed the latest developments.

“We have spoken with the headquarters in Spain and they are happy for us to adjust our programme to suit the Bulawayo community and offer more exposure to the Bulawayo players including a trip to Spain later in the year similar to what we did with Harare last year. This year will see a change in how we conduct our programmes in Bulawayo. The change is there will be no more Saturday weekly trainings but we will have termly camps and include other academies to participate too just like we did when we left to play Sundowns and Supersport last year,” said Sibanda.

In Bulawayo, the project is led by Highlanders and former Warriors player Zenzo Moyo.

Real Betis are pursuing a global education project through football with the support of their international business development department.

Its objective is not just to develop new playing talents but to provide access to good education and fight against marginalisation and social exclusion in different parts of the world.

The academy plans to launch a series of new initiatives in Africa to extend the Betis brand on the African continent. Initially, it will provide hundreds of young people with an elite football education programme.

In 2020, Athletes Sphere Management, founded by former Zimbabwe rugby international Sibanda, partnered Real Betis to establish the Spanish club’s first ever academy on the African continent. Since its establishment, the Real Betis Academy Zimbabwe has over 150 players.

The academy has also recently added a women’s football.

Real Betis Academy is the grassroots development programme of Real Betis Balompié, which seeks to share the methodology and training techniques of the Verdiblanco Club with young footballers around the world.

The academy which has more than 1 500 players, has 26 international projects with offices in the United States, Egypt, Algeria, El Salvador, Venezuela, Georgia and Zimbabwe.

 — @innocentskizoe