A football revolution is brewing in Eswatini. Two former footballers are plotting to face-lift the country’s junior football through a newly established academy.
Eswatini is one of the lowest ranked countries in Africa, where they sit on position 41 on the FIFA rankings revealed in October 2022.
There has been little investment in junior football development in the country, with much of the energies being channelled towards the Eswatini Premier league.
However the new establishment, Wingo Academy, comes with high hopes of changing the narrative and giving more budding footballers a chance.
The man behind the project to face-lift Eswatini junior football is none other than one of its products, Wandile Mazibuko.
The former Mbabane Swallows defender partnered with retired Zimbabwean footballer Standford ‘Collymore’ Ncube in the project.
WHAT THE NEW ACADEMY IS TARGETING
Mazibuko is optimistic of changing the future of junior football in the better parts of Eswatini, with focus on the untapped rural areas.
“For a start, we will be targeting children from the Mbabane and Manzini corridor which include Ezulwini, Matsapha, Manzini and Mbabane.
“In the medium term, our plan is to give back to the Eswatini community by doing rural community outreach. We will reach children from underprivileged homes that cannot afford our registration fees.
“Our goal is to reach as many young people in the country as possible. We aim to identify talent in different sporting disciplines and to help nurture and horn those God-given talents.
“Our wish is to see more and more youths off the streets and doing something meaningful with their lives.
“As former sports legend, I must be imparting the much needed skills to enhance the lives of the youth in Eswatini,” Mazibuko told FARPost.
INVOLVING FORMER FOOTBALLERS
He added: “What motivates me personally is seeing young people living their dreams.
“On the other hand, it pains me to see so many former soccer legends sitting idle when those skills can be utilised and imparted to the youth.
“My dream is to partner with more of them so we can push this vision. Seeing them do something meaningful in society is what motivates me to aim high.”
While football is their main thrust, Wingo Academy will diversify to include other minority sporting disciplines.
“Even though we are starting with soccer as our main focus, Wingo Academy is an all-inclusive academy.
“We will have various sporting disciplines such as swimming, hockey, tennis, volleyball, basketball and teqball, to mention just a few.
“So we will be introducing these on a phased approach when we rop in the necessary experts in those disciplines.
“We want to be a one-stop academy for all sporting disciplines. One main target is to have exchange programmes with renowned academies regionally especially in South Africa.
“The aim is to expose our youth to how others do things in their countries. But we will take things one step at a time and grow from there.”
Mazibuko’s partner, Ncube said they are driven by the desire to give back to the community.
“As a former player I have always wished to give back to the future generation of football players. I want to help them be responsible and disciplined.
“So when Wandile [Mazibuko] told me of his idea to form an academy, I did not hesitate. I was quickly on board because of our friendship and belief in each other.
“It made sense to come and be part of such a good project that will help the kids and the country to groom good talented players,” Ncube said.
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