Barcelona legends to launch soccer academy in Uganda

Sep 17, 2015

Another football project that could change the face of Ugandan football is in the offing with a planned visit of Barcelona FC Legends in Uganda, early December.

By Michael Nsubuga

Another football project that could change the face of Ugandan football is in the offing with a planned visit of Barcelona FC Legends in Uganda, early December.

The match was confirmed following a brief visit to the country by former Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Liverpool player Luis Garcia on Thursday.

The visit will be led by Canary Islands born and former Real Madrid Castilla player Rayco Garcia who is a friend to Luis, and who plans to build a high performance academy in Uganda.

The football match against a Ugandan select side will officially launch the RG Football Academy in Uganda. The academy will be run concurrently with a similar one in Rwanda where they flew in from.

Garcia addressed a press conference alongside UNICEF Chief of communication Murthy Jaya, Rayco Garcia and RG Football Academy and legends match coordinator Ambrose Tashobya at Sheraton Hotel.

"We are very happy to be here to develop something not only for the kids but for the country. We had a great time when we went to Tanzania earlier, so I hope we shall even enjoy more here but we are here not only for the match; but my friend asked me to be an ambassador to the academy that he plans to set up because he told me there is a lot of talent here," Garcia said.

RG Football Academy director Rayco Garcia (2nd left), addresses the press flanked by UNICEF Chief of Communication Jaya Murthy (left), Luis Garcia and Ambrose Tashobya at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala

Rayco said the project had already been given a go ahead by President Museveni and the Prime Minister who promised to avail land for the project.

"The first time I landed in Uganda I saw a land of opportunities because I saw a lot of talent; following our visit to Tanzania I met with Tashobya who encouraged me to come to Uganda to discover the talent here and I saw the potential of the country," Rayco said

"We shall work together with UNICEF who continuously work with children and change their lives. Through sport we can reach many children and educate them, improve their discipline, and develop other values. Those with talent will be given opportunities to play professional football but this project is going to benefit all Ugandans in the long run," Rayco added.

He said Barcelona Star Andreas Iniesta is also looking forward to visiting Uganda while Sergio Bousquets has asked that his name be given to one of the Gorillas.

"If we start to work like we do in Spain on; tactical, physical, psychological concepts at the end we will have many possibilities to create stars of the future, if not we will create good responsible people who will be of use to the country,"

"Unicef is proud to be working with Rayco and all the ex-Barcelona legends as part of our efforts to help less privileged children across Uganda; there is a lot of work that need to be done to get the children out of poverty and give them more hope to become the next football stars, great scientists and engineers among others," UNICEF Chief of Communications Murthy Jaya stated.

Some of the stars expected include Abidal, Carles Domingo Pladevall, Tito Bonayo, Gaizka Mendieta, Alber Thomas, Roger Garcia, Luis Milla, Luis Carreras, Santi Ezquerro, Patrick Kluivert, Luis Garcia and Simao Sabrosa among others.

Another Barcelona legend Patrick Kluivert last month announced a collaboration that will use football as a tool to bring hope to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children in Uganda.