Yadah Stars target Asec Mimosas talent model

YADAH STARS owner, Prophet Walter Magaya, wants to create a football club like Ivorian giants ASEC Mimosas to provide a shining model that will be a benchmark for professionalism in the country.

The Prophetic and Healing Deliverance Ministries leader, who is a passionate football fan, has already turned his club into a Premiership team in just one year.

He is also constructing a football stadium in Waterfalls.

A keen believer in the identification and nurturing of junior football talent, Magaya told The Herald he wants to build a club that will be a model for professionalism in the country.

He said his ambitious project could, eventually, set an example on how individual clubs can play a big part in developing talent that will feed into the national teams and turn the Young Warriors and Warriors into competitive outfits on the continent.

Earlier this week, Magaya made it clear he was left disappointed by the Warriors’ failure to make a big impression at the 2017 Nations Cup finals.

Tomorrow, Yadah Stars, as part of their ambitious project, will welcome scores of footballers, from as young as five for trials at their Waterfalls premises where they will undergo trials for various development sides for the club.

Ivorian giants ASEC Mimosas, who beat Dynamos to win the CAF Champions League in 1998, remains a model for the identification and nurturing of footballers in Africa.

The Abidjan club have produced scores of footballers who have gone to make a mark for themselves in world football, including the Toure brothers — Yaya and Kolo.

ASEC Mimosas have also helped the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire to become a competitive national team since the turn of the millennium with Yaya leading them to the AFCON title two years ago.

They also reached the final of the 2012 Nations Cup finals, but lost to Zambia in a penalty shootout.

The Elephants were also AFCON finalists in 2006.

And, now, Magaya believes he can borrow a leaf from their project.

“It’s all about investment into the junior football structures and that is what we are looking to do at Yadah Stars and that means we want to tap talent that is as young as five years old, as long as they show the promise that they can be turned into very good players at a later stage and capture them when they are still young,” said Magaya.

“This project is both for the boys and the girls and the results might not be seen today, but in future, you will see the difference that we will make in terms of helping football in this country.

“That is why we have invited those who fall within the age groups that we have targeted to come for trials on Saturday in Waterfalls and from the morning, right up to the evening, we will have coaches who will help us in identifying which players to be taken on board.

“It’s a huge project and we are very excited about it because we want to make a difference to football in this country.

“We cannot talk about the Warriors when we are not doing something about the junior structures and we need to have a base that will ensure that the right players are fed into the Young Warriors and the Warriors.

“If you look at the nations that have been successful at AFCON, you will see that they have serious junior football structures and that is what we want to have at Yadah Stars, those structures that can sustain a club.”