14/09/2025
Clifford Mulenga posted 👇
Youth National Teams Player Selection Debate
The first thing to note is, which clubs or academies do the players come from.
Its true that we have a lot of academies across the country. The thing that most people ignore here is what type of training are these kids getting? What type of facilities are these kids training on? Who is coaching these kids and how qualified is the coach?
Having been Youth Football Development Officer at FAZ for 2 years, I got to see a whole lot of players come from all provinces to the Youth National Teams. All naturally talented players but most of these players lacked the basic skills of football. The players that do not come from well established academies or clubs always struggle and the National team setup is not there to teach players the basics of football.
You cannot expect the National team coach who is preparing a team for a tournament to start teaching players how to control, pass, receive a ball.
We need to be honest with ourselves, Lusaka academies are all about football business and they are investing heavily in their coaches and facilities. They are even poaching talent from all over the country.
So it's only normal that we will have more than 5 players coming from one well established academy. It happens even in the biggest footballing countries.
South Africa has 4 teams (Mamelodi Sundowns, Supersport Academy, Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates) with the best youth setups and their players make up the bulk of their Youth National Teams.
So long as academies are not properly organised with good coaches and facilities, academies with good investments will benefit.
SOLUTION?
FAZ provincial offices should identify academies in their provinces that they can work with and help them with coach education and facility improvement.
FAZ E coaching course should be replaced with a proper Elite Youth Coaching course.
Coaches should start with a CAF D coaching course.
My humble opinion. Thank you
