Football - Belgian professional coach Steve Herbots to open youth academy |02 March 2018

Local football players will be able to benefit alongside international Italian footballers once a youth football academy is set up in Seychelles by professional Belgian football coach, Steve Herbots.

Mr Herbots has made contact with the Italian second division team Pescara Calcio, following a seven-month discussion and has also liaised with the Seychelles Football Federation.

He has been able to sign a 10-year contract with Pescara Calcio for the development of  young local Seychellois players.

“The main purpose is to develop youth football in Seychelles and give the young Seychellois players the opportunity to perform abroad,” he told Sports NATION.

Pescara Calcio play in the Italian second division (Serie B) and the youth team are due to join the Seychelles third division next year as this year’s league is set to start any time.

Pescara was formed in 1936 and have competed in six seasons in Serie A ‒ 1977–78, 1979–80, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93, 2012–13 ‒ and last took part in 2016–17. The team's official colours are white and light blue.

Through this contract, Italian coaches will be coming down to Seychelles to train the young Seychellois players.

The local players aged between 15 and 24 years will be able to join the club and get the opportunity to advance in the world of football.

Mr Herbots also told Sports NATION that he is currently looking for players with the potential to perform and to start the training as early as possible so as to improve the players’ ability.

As part of their training, players will be performing in friendly matches to instil a competitive nature within the team.

Mr Herbots explained that an agreement has also been reached that every two years, the Pescara Calcio team will switch players from the youth team in Seychelles to the original team in Italy in a bid to help them gain international exposure.

“The selection of course will be decided by the coaches once they have seen their performance and assessed,” Mr Herbots said.

He explained that Pescara Calcio and Futuro Sesel, as the local team will be named, will also be playing friendly youth matches in Seychelles and in Italy.

Mr Herbots recently arranged a training camp in Belgium to have two Seychellois players attend training with them and play three matches against professional Belgian teams.

The two players are Rick Padayachy who is currently studying in Australia and has done a three-month trial at Perth Glory, before signing up with second division team Joondalup United, and Denzel Ernesta who is currently employed in Switzerland and has been playing football and is the captain in a fourth division team in Switzerland called GS Italgrenchen.

“I’ve done a lot to try and move Seychelles football forward and through this agreement, players who have the real potential to play, will get their chance by not just performing locally, but also abroad so they can take their football skills to the next step. I’ve been trying to look for other contacts in Belgium, Spain and England, but as you know, it’s not that easy to enter the league in these bigger clubs, but I believe that football players in Seychelles have the potential to take it a step further,” Mr Herbots added.

The first training session is yet to be determined. Young football players interested in joining the club can contact Steve Herbots on his email address: futurosesel@gmail.com or on Facebook.

Rodney Rose