One hundred and thirty-two (132) young Football stars should soon join the Benfica Campus Côte d’Ivoire Academy, following the final of a national tour to detect young talents.
The final of the national tour for detecting young talents began this Tuesday, December 10, 2024, on the football field of the National Institute of Youth and Sports (INJS), in Marcory, in the south of Abidjan, and is expected to end on December 12, 2024.
The Benfica Campus Côte d’Ivoire Academy initiated from September 27 to December 3, 2024 a tour to detect young talents in all 31 regions of the country, with the participation of more than 20,000 young people aged 14 to 20 years old. .
At the end of the final phase, 132 nuggets should be selected to join the Benfica Campus Côte d’Ivoire Academy. And this, taking into account their technical, tactical, physical and psychological capacities, according to the project coordinator, Mr. Pedro Alegri.
Representing the Minister Delegate to the Ivorian Prime Minister, responsible for Sports, Mr. Célestin Nimbo Touré, Inspector General of Sports, indicated that this project is the fruit of Ivorian-Portuguese cooperation.
“It is a project that brings hope and hope for young people, who in a few years, will be seniors who will probably bring us medals,” declared the general inspector of sports, Mr. Célestin Nimbo Touré.
Through this cooperation, “you transfer know-how to Côte d’Ivoire, to the INJS and to all these technical teams”, underlined Mr. Touré, who congratulated the Benfica Campus Academy, encouraging it to continue, because “Ivory Coast needs their technical expertise and know-how. »
For his part, Mr. Lanciné Diomandé, president of the Benfica Campus Côte d’Ivoire Academy, indicated that the academy is establishing itself for the first time in Africa, with the strategic objective of increasing the profession of football in Côte d’Ivoire. of ivory.
“We really want to teach young people what football is, the profession of football and we want to teach young people to understand this profession before thinking about finances,” added Mr. Lanciné Diomandé.
He further noted that the academy intends to provide Côte d’Ivoire with a “very large national team”, reassuring that the young people are “directly linked to the State of Côte d’Ivoire via the Ivorian Football Federation ( FIF) and are only scheduled for the FIF, to play for the national team.”
In addition to the sporting aspect, Mr. Lanciné Diomandé insisted on the social aspect that the Benfica Campus Academy promotes, by helping disadvantaged young people through football and by finding them direct and indirect jobs.
Recognized worldwide for the quality of its training, the Benfica Campus Academy wants to apply European methodology to its members. The best young people, according to its president, will be in Lisbon, in the United States, in Sao Paulo, where other academies of the Benfica club are located.
AP/APA
