Seychelles/Saudi Arabia sign football cooperation |05 October 2023

New opportunities for Seychellois youth and female footballers

Seychellois youth and female footballers are set to benefit from new opportunities for growth and development following the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding between Seychelles and Saudi Arabia.

The memorandum was signed in Riyad on September 15, 2023 between the president of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) Yasser Al Misehal and the president of the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) Elvis Chetty.

The agreement, which will initially be for a two-year period and renewable upon mutual agreement from both parties, will provide opportunities for the Seychelles women’s national team and the country’s men’s youth national teams to train and play friendly matches in Saudi Arabia.

It will also provide opportunities for development in a wide range of other areas such as football management, marketing and commercial activities, research and development, coaching, refereeing, video assistant refereeing (VAR), technical development, governance, sports science, sports medicine, and football related technologies.

Talent identification and player development are also key components of this agreement as well as futsal and beach soccer.

According to SFF president Chetty, this agreement comes at an opportune time as the SFF has been putting a lot of emphasis on youth and women’s football.

“Caf club licensing requires that major league clubs in member associations have robust youth and women football development programmes in order to be able to participate in continental competitions in future,” he explained.

“This is why all Caf member associations are putting emphasis in those areas in order to meet what will become the norm,” he said.

Mr Chetty said the talent identification and player development components of this agreement will pave the way for young Seychellois footballers with the necessary talents and skills to be put on trial with Saudi Arabian clubs and in academies which could lead to a professional career.

“In all that we do we are trying our best to give young players the best opportunities that become available to us. They need to grab those opportunities, work hard, and make good use of them,” he said.

Meanwhile, it must be noted that Saudi Arabia has drawn a lot of attention in the football world lately with a plethora of star players joining their domestic league.

The country has embarked on a spending spree as part of a serious ambition to turn its domestic soccer league into a star-studded, bona fide competition.

Contributed