Africa-Press – Botswana. If things go according to plan, Botswana, along with Namibia will co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations final.
In anticipation of being granted host status, Botswana Football Association (BFA) has seemingly set in motion ‘a deliberate plan’ to prepare a team to represent the country at the tournament.
This past week, the BFA sent a youthful team comprised mostly of players under the age of 23-years to the ongoing Hollywood Bets sponsored Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) tournament.
While the move may not be welcome from some, more especially those who believe the national team is not for development, BFA chief executive officer (CEO) Mfolo Mfolo says this is a long-term project.
“Using these players is deliberate from our side. When we plan, we do with an eye on AFCON 2027. These are part of our preparations,” he says.
For the BFA, the plan is to give the young boys exposure without any undue pressure, hence, according to the BFA CEO, “they have set no targets for the team to meet at the ongoing COSAFA Cup tournament”.
“If you look at the current squad, the oldest players are Lebogang Ditsile, Mothusi Cooper, Thato Kebue and Goitseone Phoko. The rest are still relatively young and inexperienced,” he explains.
With limited international games to play for Botswana men’s senior national team, BFA has already mapped out a way to keep the youthful team active.
“Our plan is for this team to be a core part of the national team which will be selected to represent the country during the African Nations Championships (CHAN) tournament to continue its development,” he explains.
However, with the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers ongoing, expectation is that the team selected for CHAN qualifiers will be a mix of seasoned players and youngsters. This will be to afford the senior players the much-needed match practice to prepare for Afcon qualifiers.
For the BFA, the plan is to make sure the country has a strong and competitive team in 2027 without losing focus of the now, which is qualifying for the next Afcon. As such, there will be no pressure on the coaches when selecting the team for CHAN qualifiers.
“While we call for the inclusion of youthful players, we have to remember that national team selection is based on merit. So, for CHAN, we do not expect the coach to select youthful players even if they are not active at team level, which is the case with some of these players,” he said.
As a way to ensure the youthful talent get opportunities, BFA will have to come up with creative solutions. Fortunately, the association is already on top of its game.
With big teams continuously stalling careers of promising talent by buying them and not giving them game time, the association is working on a policy to ensure young talent get some game time.
“Our technical team is currently working on a policy which will create quotas in teams to be filled by young players. hopefully, if things go well, the policies will be in place this coming season,” he concludes.
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