SuperSport United Rebranding Their Academy Due to Covid 19 Challenges

• The SuperSport United academy is known for producing talents in South African football but they need to change things
• According to Stan Matthews, the academy CEO, the club has faced challenges because of the Covid-19 pandemic
• Because of this, they will no longer be able to house younger players and can only house the older children

Due to the major issues posed by Covid-19, SuperSport United has declared that they will be revamping their renowned academy.

The club's academy has produced some massive talent, such as Ronwen Williams, Kermit Erasmus, Daine Klate and Sipho Mbule to name a few.

"It is true that we are looking at a restructure at the academy and the main reason is that obviously, Covid-19 has changed a lot of things," CEO Stan Matthews said according to TimesLIVE.

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The club is looking at their options, as having children away from home in a Covid-19 environment has been very difficult for them. They have opted to no longer have kids under the age of 16 residentially living at the academy.

"It has been hard on us, it has been hard on the parents, it has been hard on the system and, to be frank, we have had to spend millions in terms of testing, observing protocols and many other things and we have lost all our sponsors," said Matthews.

SuperSport is not closing their academy, according to Matthews, but they are moving away from the traditional approach of housing boys under a specific age.

According to the SuperSport United website, the academy's goal is to help young aspiring soccer stars realize their footballing potential while also ensuring that they grow into responsible citizens with a solid education in case they are unable to pursue football as a full-time job.

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Ronwen Williams exclusive, speaks about being Bafana Bafana captain

In other SuperSport United news, Briefly News reported that Bafana Bafana is evolving with coach Hugo Broos opting to have a much younger squad. Broos has said before that he's all about development and this is why he's decided to name the youth when it comes to the national team.

An interesting thing to note is that Broos has named SuperSport United goalkeeper Ronwen Williams as the captain. The 29-year-old spoke about what he feels is expected of him in the role and what his goals are.

Itumeleng Khune held the position of being the number one goalkeeper for South Africa but it seems as though Williams has done a good job of displacing him. In exclusive comments to Briefly News, Williams spoke about his new journey.

Source: Briefly News