Former Orlando Pirates midfielder James Mothibi is saddened that so few Premier League players stem from the Northern Cape.
This is why he has started the James Mothibi Sports Academy with the aim of developing young talent from the biggest province in South Africa.
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One of the few famous players who have come from this province to make a big name for himself in the PSL is Jimmy Tau.
Speaking exclusively to the Siya crew, Mothibi stated that his Academy will help develop players for professional football. At the moment, the Northern Cape has two teams in the Motsepe Foundation Championship in Hungry Lions and (newly promoted) Upington City FC. Mothibi believes this is not good enough for the Northern Cape.
"It's hard to produce players for the PSL from provinces like ours. Most teams look at Gauteng teams when they think of development and academy players," Mothibi told Soccer Laduma.
"So, that's why I started the James Mothibi Sports Academy. Not only to give back to my community but also give a chance to the players to explore their talent and then market them to bigger teams in other provinces like Gauteng, KZN and the Western Cape.
"I know it's very hard to do it without sponsors but we are looking and we hope some people or companies will come on board and see what we are doing and support us," Mothibi said.
He added that to market players in the Academy they will play friendly games with teams in the PSL from other provinces starting with Gauteng.
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"We know there is talented and good players in our province but scouts don't normally come here. So, we have decided to arrange friendly games with teams in Gauteng for both exposure and marketing as well.
"If we play these games the chances of our players being seen and noticed are not slim and that will help develop those players for higher leagues. We are taking it one step at a time right now but we believe everything will work out for the good soon and we will have players and teams from the Northern Cape in the top flight league soon," Mothibi concluded.
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