The Sunday News
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
REAL Betis Academy Zimbabwe chairman Gerald Sibanda says they have been forced to beef up their technical team in Harare following a growth in the number of players under the academy.
The academy announced Naison Muchekela as part of the department for senior age group teams on Friday.
Murape Murape, who is now an assistant coach at Dynamos remains part of the Harare coaches together with Tichaona Diya and Phillemon Mutyakureva. Johannes Ngodzo, Gift Lunga (junior) are in charge of proceedings in Bulawayo.
Muchekela a former Dynamos and Zimbabwe youth international in his playing days brings a lot of coaching experience to the Real Betis young players after a stint with Dynamos Football Club as an assistant coach in the 2022 Premiership season.
Johannes Ngodzo
“I am indebted to Real Betis Academy for giving me this opportunity to come and work with this institution. An institution that has grown in leaps and bounds ever since its inception,” said Muchekela following his appointment.
Muchekela added that: “The Academy has a rich foundation and coaches who have rich knowledge of junior development. I believe I have seen Real Betis Academy in Zimbabwe as well as the international brand their possession-based philosophy is something that I subscribe to and something I am looking forward to working with during my tenure at the institution.”
Sibanda expressed his excitement to have Muchekela onboard saying 2023 is a busy year with recruitment and enrollment and it is important to beef up the technical team to implement everything Real Betis expects from the Academy.
“Naison comes with a lot of experience playing top-flight football in Zimbabwe playing for the youth national teams and also from a coaching point of view, he is a coach that has been involved at the highest level of the Premier League in Zimbabwe,” said Sibanda.
Sibanda added that Muchekela brings with him value to the players, the technical team, and great stability. — Follow on Twitter @innocentsskizoe
