Football Project seeks best U16 talent
● Platform provides chance for young stars to be spotted by clubs, academies
A nationwide four-city U16 football talent search will kick off in Gqeberha on Sunday.
The Football Project’s director, Eldon Smith, said the talent identification search was aimed at providing talented young players in the country with the chance to be spotted by professional football academies or soccer clubs.
The trials in Gqeberha will be held at the Saints Football Club field at 8am on Sunday.
“The Football Project’s talent identification programme is a scouting platform that we started a couple of years ago, with the focus on creating opportunities for [young] players to get into professional academies and seniors clubs,” Smith said.
“We focus on U16 to U18. We are trying to find some of the best players about to create an opportunity for them to get exposure.
“We are going to four different cities and we are still finalising other venues, but Gqeberha is the first location on our list.
“From the four cities, we will be choosing the best players we can find. There is no specific number.”
Smith said selected players would then travel to Cape Town to attend a high-performance training camp hosted by The Football Project and conducted by former Ajax Cape Town captain Brent Carelse.
A 22-man squad consisting of the best players would be selected to play against professional academies in Cape Town, with the chance of being spotted by professional clubs.
“The trials are free. Anyone can come but we advise that local clubs and Local Football Associations [LFAs] recommend their strongest players,” Smith said.
“We don’t want people to come in their numbers, we want them to send their best players.
“We would also like to build partnerships with the LFAs and Safa in the regions in all provinces because we would like to work alongside various parties within the football fraternity.
“We do not want to do things on our own, we want to work together and contribute to the development of South African football.”