The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
IT has been two months since Spanish football club, Real Betis announced that they were getting into an agreement with Zimbabwean agency Athletes Sphere Management to launch their first ever academy on the African continent.
That partnership will finally be launched at what promises to be a glittering ceremony at a Harare hotel on Friday.
Gerald Sibanda, the Real Betis Academy Zimbabwe president and chief executive officer is delighted that the project that has been talked about for months is finally coming to fruition.
“We are very excited, firstly we are grateful for the support we’ve received from all the stakeholders who are coming tonight to officiate and unveil our global partnership with Real Betis, we have all been talking about it for the past two months but finally that dream has come true for people to realise that yes it was true,’’ Sibanda said.
He expressed the desire to assist in developing talented Zimbabwean footballers with the support from all interested parties in the country.
“We are also committed to ensure that we serve Zimbabwean football to the very best to our ability, we are grateful for the support we have received from Zifa, SRC, Ministry of Sport, Government and all the stakeholders that will be joining us today, corporates who are interested to know about our product who will be coming tonight,’’ he said.
La Liga Southern Africa managing director Marcos Pelegrin and another La Liga representative on the African continent Enrique Suay arrived in the country on Thursday ahead of the official launch on Friday.
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