By Sports Reporter/Doha
After much nervous anticipation from the players, as well as careful evaluation and deliberation by the coaches, the names of the final 15 footballers selected for the Qatar Airways & Aspire Academy – Football Dreams Africa team were officially announced. The group of 13-year-old boys represent a number of countries from across the African continent including Ghana, Gambia, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Mali.
Those selected for the Football Dreams Africa team will now enter a five-year programme at the Aspire Academy in Senegal, where they will train, compete, study and learn to manage their lives and careers successfully, with the goal of one day playing for a professional club or their respective national teams.
The players, who have been playing together for almost one month since coming together as a team in March, will have an excellent opportunity to show off their skills when they travel to Barcelona this May to play a friendly match against the FC Barcelona’s under-15 youth team.
Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar al-Baker said: “We are extremely excited to see the inaugural Qatar Airways & Aspire Academy – Football Dreams Africa team becoming a reality. And we are very proud to have our name associated with such a wonderful and life-changing programme, which will see these young boys build on their natural talent, making them into footballers worthy of playing at a professional level. We wish the boys the very best of luck at their match in Barcelona.”
Aspire Academy director general Ivan Bravo said: “The match in Barcelona is going to be a great experience for the selected players and we are very thankful that Qatar Airways joined us in this initiative. Breaking into the world of professional football demands a lot of hard work. It is opportunities like this trip to Spain that might motivate the young players to put in even more effort in order to reach their goal of becoming professional football players.”
Launched in 2007, Aspire Football Dreams gives young football players from developing countries the opportunity to reach the heights of international football through training and development at their Academy located in Senegal. Each year, the programme selects a number of 13-year-old boys who go through a rigorous assessment process in the hopes of being selected to attend the Academy.
Having already tested two million football players since the beginning of the programme eight years ago, Aspire Football Dreams is the largest-ever talent search in football. This is the first year that Qatar Airways has partnered with the Aspire Academy Aspire Football Dreams programme in Africa.
Over the last year, Aspire Football Dreams coaches, staff and more than 4,000 volunteers, assessed 400,000 13-year-old football players, at approximately 650 football fields, in 14 countries. Of those, 35 boys were selected to fly to Senegal, home of the Aspire Football Dreams Academy for their final assessment, which included rigorous training and matches against Spanish youth team, RCD Espanyol, before the final selection was made.
Results of the Aspire Football Dreams programme have already been made evident with a number of graduating students being signed to professional teams in Europe, including Diawandou Diagne, who signed with FC Barcelona B team last July, and Ibrahim Diallo from Mali who signed with, Valencia CF B Team in Spain last January.
FINAL FIFTEEN
Barthelemy Iradukunda (Burundi)
Abdel Nassere Mfouatah (Cameroon)
Jumai Jallow (Gambia)
Momodou Jallow (Gambia)
Isaac Nuhu (Ghana)
Leslie Adeniah (Ghana)
Isaac Annan (Ghana)
Ebenezer Gyetuah (Ghana)
Appiah Kubi (Ghana)
Salim Diaby (Ivory Coast)
Dao Ismael Stephane Ouattara (Ivory Coast)
Sibiry Keita (Mali)
Seybou Senou (Mali)
Nasry Daudi Azizi (Tanzania)
Shafic Ssebyala (Uganda)
