Development

Botswana Boys National U/17 Team Selection Underway

Apr 23, 2021

The Botswana Boys National U-17 football Technical Team led by coach, Tebogo Mokute has started the process of rebuilding a formidable squad ahead of the upcoming African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 games slated for Lesotho in December 2021.

The first 35 players of the 70 players earmarked by Mokute reported for camp today (Friday, 23rd April 2021) at Lekidi Football Centre in Gaborone. Mokute looks to form a solid team as most of the 2020 U-17 players have morphed into the national U-20 team.

Health officials at BFA headquarters, Lekidi Football Centre in Gaborone

The 35 players are from the southern regions and are expected to spend three days with the technical team, who have an arduous task of selecting the best players from the copious group.

Prior to today’s camp, all players were tested for COVID-19 and results are expected later today.

On Tuesday, 27 April 2021, coach Mokute will welcome yet another batch of 35 players from the Northern regions who will subsequently spend three days undergoing a rigorous selection process.

Following the final selection, Mokute will then hold a two-weeks camp and start working on building a solid team to represent Botswana at the upcoming tournaments and other regional games.

“All the players who were part of the U-17 have graduated, so basically the 70 players selected is to help us get good players from this pool and prepare a team for the Region 5/COSAFA tournament in December and we are also eyeing the next U-17 AFCON finals. Even the age group of the players is based on the criterion of these tournaments respectively,” said Mokute.

The first five days will see the technical team selecting a strong side who will then go into a full camp to find rhythm in the squad.

Health officials at BFA headquarters, Lekidi Football Centre in Gaborone

Mokute also highlighted that the 70 players invited for selection are from the Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA) and Botswana Primary School Association (BOPSA) structures, including the Elite youth league structures.

Health officials at BFA headquarters, Lekidi Football Centre in Gaborone
Health officials at BFA headquarters, Lekidi Football Centre in Gaborone

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Development

BFA LAUNCHES FIFA TALENT DEVELOPMENT SCHEME PROJECT

𝗚𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗘: Botswana Football Association today the 21st April 2023, launched an innovative FIFA Talent Development Scheme (TDS), to help raise the standards of junior national football teams for both men and women, driven by FIFA’s desire for a long-term dedication to global talent development.

The programme is also aimed to help the association achieve its full potential and continuing the measures taken to reduce the disparity in the level of football between different countries.

The project objectives are to create a platform for emerging talent that will expose them quality coaching and competitive environment, to create a pool of players to be selected for junior national team (U15, U17 and U20) and to build a strong base for competitive junior national teams and sustain their success at all levels.

The identified players will be channeled to Radisele and Mogoditshane Centres of Sports Excellence with the possibility of expanding to other areas. The teams will be training on a daily basis with qualified coaches and playing games every week. U15 national team shall be fixtured in Tswapong Region U17 youth league while U17 team shall be fixtured in Tswapong Region Division 1. U19 team will have game time by locking horns with the first division league teams where it will be fixtured.

Giving his welcome remarks BFA vice president 1 also the acting president, Mr. Masego Nchingane made it known the purpose of today is to launch two (2) talent Development Centres namely Mogoditshane Senior Secondary School and Radisele Junior Secondary school Centres of Sports Excellence however in the next few years will have talent identification centres across the country in order to give every kid an opportunity to fulfill their potentials.

Speaking during the launch the BFA general Secretary Mr Mfolo E.Mfolo proclaimed that the standards of school of excellence determines the output, and the output will give us the results that we want in 10 years from now.

“FIFA realized that the top countries in the world continue to make the gap big with other countries that’s when FIFA decided to embark on a talent development scheme to find out how other countries can play catch-up where FIFA Masters Alumni can fast track the development of players so that the junior national teams even small countries can make an impact in football”, said FIFA Consultant Mr. Serame Letswaka

Sharing the project landscape BFA Technical Director, Mr. Tshepo Mphukuthi emphasized that the project is not the same from country to country but is tailor-made to a country based on their country’s challenges and needs.

Closing the program proceedings, Hon. Tumisang Healy, a member of parliament for Gaborone Central, made it public that this program is dynamic and he believes it will change the football landscape of Botswana. He further added that if purposely do development, there will be outcomes out of it.