Hands down, FOOTBALL is Africa’s most popular sport.
There is no day that goes by without us talking about Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and all the big clubs we love to watch. But this passion, this deep and relentless passion for football, is mostly carried by our youth.
Young boys (and girls) all over Africa strive to be professional footballers. It’s no surprise then that in pursuit of this dream, many of them join football academies to develop and grow their talent to reach the highest level.
In layman terms, a football academy is a ‘Football School’.
A talent development centre which focuses on football and its goal is to train and teach young players to maximize their talent and one day make it as professional players.
Most football academies tend to promise the same thing;
“Train with us and you could play professionally abroad for your favorite club.”
However, in saying this, when you look at the number of African players who make it at the highest level, why are they so few?
How many academies actually address why?
What are they not telling us, as players and parents, about the real world of professional football?
Here are 3 things your academy has probably never told you that you must know as a player or parent in your pursuit of football as a career:
Banned International transfer of youth players
Did you know that since 2009, FIFA Prohibits the transfer of players under the age of 18 internationally?
Despite this, hundreds of academies in Africa send students to international tournaments every year. It’s not that playing in these tournaments is wrong or bad, it’s that academies don’t tell their students and their families that your son/daughter is not likely to be signed. And when the player comes back wondering why they were not picked up by a club, nobody has answers. The truth is that clubs cannot sign underage international players. So go on trips and play in tournaments, that’s all fine… but find another route if you want to play abroad under the age of 18.
Limits on International Players
Another thing, players often don’t know is that every league has limits on foreign players. They do this to protect their home-grown talent. In Spain for example, each team is only allowed 3 Non-European Union players on match day. In France, that number is 5.
Even in Kenya, each club is only allowed 5 foreign players.
This means that the competition for those spots is very high. To play abroad as a foreign player, you would have to be world-class.
How hard it is at the professional level
Most players will not go from Nairobi, or Kampala, or Accra directly to playing for Arsenal. Football and even life doesn’t work like that. You don’t land your dream job after you finish high-school. Football is a ladder. And many families simply lack the patience to support their son/daughter through that ladder.
We have this conception that if you take your son/daughter to London, they will immediately be signed. But that’s impossible.
What’s more likely is that your son or daughter will play in different countries as they climb the ladder of international football. They may not even get a professional contract on their first trial, or even their second or third one. But the same applies to any highly competitive job. You might work different jobs and go to many different interviews before you get what you really want. And that’s okay. Expect football to be the same way.
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This blog is written and created by True Talents of Africa. The TTA Football Academy program is a specialized highly intensive football program designed to turn students from ‘students’, to ‘student-athletes’. The program enables talented football players to pursue football at an elite level without subtracting from their education whilst granting them greater opportunities to play internationally.
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If you would like more info on playing opportunities for yourself or your son, you can join our next Masterclass.