Arsenal plan to nurture local coaches

Apr 30, 2013

IN June, local coaches will have a two-day session with the Arsenal coaches on how to handle young players

By Michael Nsubuga

ARSENAL’S presence in Ugandan football will not only stop with the visit of former Arsenal legend Lauren Mayer.

With the Airtel Rising Stars partnership that FUFA has with telecommunication company Airtel, the country will continue to benefit from courses for coaches offered by Arsenal’s UEFA trained coaches. 

These trained local coaches will then nurture the players that will come through the ARS programe.

Addressing journalists on Sunday, Andrew Masitsa the brand assets manager-Africa, said the partnership with Arsenal was intended to uplift the standard of the game in the country.

“Like Arsenal has consistently delivered professionalism over the last couple of decades, we thought we could borrow from their expertise and professionalism and see how much we can benefit as a people,” Masitsa said.

In June, local coaches will have a two-day session with the Arsenal coaches on how to handle young players. This will be besides sending more rising stars to a training camp in Nigeria where they will also be able to sharpen their skills.

Mayer had a short training session with the Kampala Junior Team U-17 team on Sunday and urged them to look to African players in Europe for inspiration and strive to be like them.

“With this kind of programme Uganda can easily qualify for AFCON in future if it gets full support from government and all stake holders,” Mayer said.

FUFA vice president-youth Patrick Ogwel said the Airtel Rising Stars programe was a very special arrangement for rebranding the game in the country and that it is one of the mechanisms they were looking at to strengthen the youth structures.

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