Reneilwe Letsholonyane on what’s lacking in SA youth football development
Newly appointed AmaZulu U17 coach Reneilwe Letsholonyane has offered a detailed explanation of what’s lacking in SA youth football development.
The ex-Kaizer Chiefs midfielder was unveiled by AmaZulu last week as one of the new coaches for the club’s youth development.
Usuthu recently launched a programme called Youth Football Project 2032 where they outlined plans for the upcoming nine years.
Their vision is to have a majority of the squad with home-grown talent and to win trophies by 2032.
Letsholonyane says there hasn’t been enough financial investment in youth football.
He believes most of the top-tier teams don’t have the financial muscle to acquire sufficient resources for their youth academies.
RENEILWE LETSHOLONYANE ON YOUTH FOOTBALL CHALLENGES
“Investing money, time, and resources, those are few of the main things that the team should do,” he told the media.
“Running a football club, especially the development is very expensive. Getting proper coaches, it is not cheap.
“Getting proper resources, just like for example, one soccer ball, it’s very expensive, because it’s almost R1000.
“So, you can imagine if you have Under 13, 15, 17, and at most you’ll need 20 soccer balls per division. It’s very expensive.
“You have a kit, home and away, you have tracksuits, travelling, so it’s very expensive.”
The Bafana Bafana renowned legend stated that some clubs like Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs are on the right path as they’ve been producing prominent players in recent years.
“I think those teams [SuperSport United, Mamelodi Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs] you mentioned, they have that muscle to try and cover that,” he added.
“And that is why it shows that difference between them and the rest of other teams.”
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