Football: Dwight Yorke arrives today for three-day visit |12 September 2013

Former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke arrives in the country today for a three-day visit under the Airtel Rising Stars programme.
The Manchester United striking legend is to arrive early this afternoon onboard a regular Kenya Airways flight.

He will conduct the first of two Airtel Rising Stars clinics at 4pm today at the Astroturf pitch, Roche Caïman and this will be followed by a talk inside the Seychelles Football Federation’s Maison Football auditorium.

Tomorrow, Yorke will visit the vocational training centre for disabled at North East Point at 9am, have a talk with some youths at the Maritime Training Centre at 10.30am and then head to the Airtel headquarters at Providence.

In the afternoon, he will meet the local media in the Media Talk Show with Legend at the Maison Football auditorium at 2.30pm and then run the second clinic at the Astroturf pitch, starting at 3.15pm.

The two clinics are for two groups of players aged 15-17 who are following the Airtel Rising Stars programme.

The Airtel Rising Stars is an Africa-wide programme that provides a platform for upcoming soccer talent under the age of 17 to showcase their skills to leading scouts, coaches and have an opportunity to further their football skills.

A cocktail with legend is also planned for tomorrow night at the La Plaine St André.
On Saturday, Yorke will be at Stad Linite where he will watch the Airtel Cup final between holders Côte d’Or and St Michel.

The final is a repeat of last year’s which Praslin side Côte d’Or won 1-0 to write a piece of local football history. The victory reverberated on Praslin as it was the first time a team from the country’s second biggest island had won a major silverware in local football.

Yorke is also expected to call on President James Michel who is also the local football patron.
Before coming to Seychelles, Yorke was in Kenya.

Yorke will be accompanied by Michael Higham, relationship manager with the Manchester United.
They are travelling here at the invitation of Airtel Seychelles.

York, 41, had a successful stint at United from 1998 to 2002. During the four seasons, the man nicknamed 'The Smiling Assassin', formed a deadly strike partnership with Andy Cole leading United to an unprecedented treble in 1999 after winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League that season.

Yorke's colourful career at United, after arriving from Aston Villa, saw him score 66 goals in 152 appearances.
Towards the end of his career, he also played for Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City, Sydney FC and Sunderland.

He launched his career in football management when he served as the assistant manager of the Trinidad and Tobago national team during the 2010 Fifa World Cup qualifying matches. Yorke is currently an assistant coach for the Red Devils' reserves.

He has played 72 official times for the Trinidad and Tobago national team, scoring 26 goals. But he has played over 100 matches for Trinidad and Tobago that were not recognised as international friendlies.

Along with his friend Russell Latapy, Yorke was a member of the 1989 'Strike Squad', the national team which narrowly failed to qualify for the 1990 Fifa World Cup. He retired from international football in 2001 after a disagreement with the side's coach; however he returned to the team for the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, in which the team qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in their history after a 2–1 aggregate qualifying victory over Bahrain.

Yorke is the second former English Premier League star to visit Seychelles this year after legendary former Arsenal and France captain Patrick Vieira, who is now the Manchester City elite development squad coach, ran coaching clinics here in May under the  first ever Manchester City Seychelles soccer school 2013.

L. K.