Africa-Press – Angola. Sport Lubango Benfica will launch a football school next March, for both sexes, as part of a partnership, this year, with Academia R10, owned by Brazilian Ronaldinho Gaucho.
The information was given to the press yesterday by the president of the Huila Club, Jacques da Conceição, as part of the commemorations of the 91st anniversary of its foundation, to be celebrated on the 27th of the current month.
According to the director, with this partnership established with R10, based and represented in Luanda, from now on Benfica will no longer be directly involved in the training levels, with a view to guaranteeing greater quality to the profile of the trained athletes.
He detailed that the Academy’s affairs from a professional and administrative point of view will now be handled by the company AGNX, which will be the holder of the rights for the training levels in football.
He underlined that the R10 Academy will train athletes from four to 17 years of age and Benfica will be responsible for athletes from 17 years old to the old guard.
“In a first phase, the academy will open with 150 athletes, but for its self-sustainability, the objective is to reach 300”, he explained, without, however, advancing the value of the investment.
He only indicated that there will be a contribution from the athletes’ parents and guardians, because they will have direct access to sports material, which is the responsibility of the academy.
He made it known that the coaches are local, but that they will have the supervision of outside specialists, in addition to other elements that will allow it to work, such as the training of coaches to be supported by R10.
“Throughout these years and from the experience we have, attendance at the gym has always been free, the Club, even with limited resources, has never lacked material, transport and wages”, he alluded.
He highlighted that the conditions have already been created, with emphasis on some corrections in his stadium and he hopes that by 2025 the senior team will be made up of 75% of athletes trained at the club.
Management points out other challenges
According to Jacques da Conceição, as a result of partnerships, a project was developed for women’s basketball, which from the 12th of March onwards, his team at the senior level will participate in the women’s championship, called “Liga Azul”.
The fact, he continued, resulted from “hard” work that involved the Angolan Federation of the sport (FAB), the Provincial Association and the Government of Huíla.
“It will be a championship with a different format than usual. The race will take place in the provinces of Luanda, Benguela, Malange and Huíla, with sponsorship guaranteed to participate”, he stressed.
Benfica do Lubango was created on February 27, 1932. Currently, the club plays host to 10 sports, from football, basketball, table tennis, athletics, tae-kwondo, chess, futsal, MMA, judo and capoeira, involving 735 athletes , of which 265 were female.
Football is his forte. However, since 2014 he has been out of Girabola, but intends to enter the second or third division. It has a stadium, 11 de Novembro, with capacity for six thousand spectators, inaugurated in 1930, being the first built in the province of Huíla.
It also has a sports pavilion and assets consisting of buildings, disco, casino, which the current management tries to take the best advantage of for the good of sport in its hosts.
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