Published on : 06/05/2022 – 10:29
PSG, in collaboration with Kigali, has opened a football academy in Huye district in southern Rwanda. The opportunity for the 184 young hopefuls to reveal their full potential with coaches trained by the Parisian club. Report.
Abdul has been passionate about football since he was young. After selections conducted throughout Rwanda, he is one of the 184 talents, aged 6 to 15, to have joined the PSG academy inaugurated at the end of 2021 in the south of the country. “I do several training sessions a week, dribbling, shooting, passing,” testifies the child.
Objective of this center: to identify the best hopes, to make them progress and to confront them with other teams. Abdul and 21 other players will participate in the PSG academy World Cup, which will be organized in Paris. “Training helps me to know football even more. I want to be the first Rwandan player to go to PSG,” explains Abdul.
Rwanda, 136th in the FIFA rankings, is currently not a football nation. To change this, Kigali entered into a partnership of 10 million euros per year with PSG to promote its image but also to develop football in the country.
David Rumanzi is one of four local coaches trained by the Parisian club. “In five years, our academy players will already be playing for their national teams in the different age groups, under 15, 16 or 17,” he explains.
The partnership also aims to promote tourism. Since 2019, the Visit Rwanda logo appears at the Parc des Princes and on the PSG training shirt. Since 2018, Rwanda has also had a similar deal with Arsenal – President Paul Kagame’s favorite club. A year later, the number of tourists from Europe has increased by 22% in the country.