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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

THREE Real Betis Academy Zimbabwe prospects are set for a month-long training and assessment at Pretoria University, Tuks Football.

Captain Panashe Murungweni (centre-back), Kudzai Butau (goalkeeper) and Kirby Panashe (Striker) are the players who are already in Pretoria. The three players are all aged 19.

Kirby Panashe and Kudzai Butau

Gerald Sibanda, Real Betis Zimbabwe president, whose sports agency Athletes Sphere Management in 2020 secured the deal to be the Spanish club’s first academy in Africa, said they are on a drive to expose their products locally, regionally and internationally.

“Our Academy is not all about sending players to Spain alone. At the age of 19, if you are in Spain, you are already playing international football. So, when one reaches that age we look for other markets for our products which we have done with these boys. They have not signed anything, they are just going there for assessment and we wish them the best of luck,” said Sibanda.

The academy, which was launched in 2020, has been conducting training camps in Harare where former players, Murape Murape, Tichaona Diya and Philemon Mutyakureva have been in charge.

Johannes Ngodzo and Gift Lunga (junior) are in charge of proceedings in Bulawayo.
With the support of its international business development department, Real Betis are pursuing a global education project through football.

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.

Already, more than 1 000 boys and girls outside of Spain have had the chance to train under the club’s 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.

Panashe Murungweni

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.

Next month, 23 players between the ages of nine to 18 years and the Real Betis Zimbabwe Academy technical team will be visiting Seville to the Real Betis headquarters for an educational trip, assessment and to gain exposure in Spain. – @innocentskizoe