Real Betis head of global sports projects, Ignacio Pinilla, Spanish consul general in South Africa, Jesus Silva, La Liga Southern Africa managing director Marcos Pelegrin and Real Betis Academy in Zimbabwe director Gerald Sibanda pose for a picture. Real Betis head of global sports projects, Ignacio Pinilla, Spanish consul general in South Africa, Jesus Silva, La Liga Southern Africa managing director Marcos Pelegrin and Real Betis Academy in Zimbabwe director Gerald Sibanda, were present at the launch in Cape Town recently.
Cape Town - Real Betis Balompié, the 115-year-old Spanish LaLiga club based in Seville, opened a second academy on African soil a few days ago as part of a strategic plan to extend its brand globally.
A Real Betis delegation together with LaLiga officials arrived in Cape Town to announce that the Cape Town academy will be headed up by Gerald Sibanda, a former Zimbabwe and Cheetahs rugby player.
Sibanda already heads up the Betis Academy in Zimbabwe, which was the club’s pilot project in Africa. It was launched in Harare in 2020.
Real Betis have set out to extend its presence and commitment in Africa. It is striving to become the Spanish football club with the biggest presence on the continent and to offer unique experiences to its local community of fans. The academy’s campus will be at the Faure Street Stadium in Paarl. This project will offer great opportunities for growth to players in this town and its surroundings.
Real Betis Academy will open its doors to all future talents who would like to join Real Betis and improve their skills under their methodology.
The camps are aimed at boys and girls between 5 and 18 years of age. They will be supervised by coaches from Real Betis youth teams, who will travel from Seville to Cape Town.
More than 1500 players are already part of Betis Academy around the world. The project already has more than 25 international sites, in places such as the US, Zimbabwe, El Salvador, Venezuela and Georgia.
Also, some of the players will have the opportunity to travel to Seville and train at Real Betis facilities.
Sibanda said that since the launch of the academy in Harare “everyone wears green and white”.
“Now it is time to replicate the model in South Africa, to have more academies next season and continue to promote Real Betis in Africa,” said Sibanda.
Marcos Pelegrín, LaLiga managing director in Southern Africa, expressed the Spanish league’s enthusiasm for receiving Real Betis in Africa.
“We are very happy to see Real Betis becoming a stronger club in the continent and we are looking forward to supporting them in all their endeavours,” said Pelegrín.
“We hope to see more Spanish clubs following the Real Betis path on a continent that is in love with football and where there is space for anyone willing to work on its development.
“With this action, the club demonstrated that it is committed to the African market. It has ambitious plans to further support the development of local football and to offer unique experiences to the club’s fans on the continent.”
Real Betis, which is presently managed by former Manchester City and Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini, have important former African players in its recent history such as Achille Emaná, Finidi George and Benjamin Zarandona and currently Senegal-born Youssouf Sabaly.
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