For many years, Botswana found it tough to qualify for important African youth championships, which resulted in local athletes missing out on opportunities to compete with their global counterparts and gaining much needed experience. This impeded sports growth and development in the country.
Botswana has a superior economic status that puts it in good stead to host many of the African youth tournaments. Across Africa there are many poorer countries that however keep on hosting many youth tournaments. They reap immense rewards for their efforts. Most such countries are in West Africa and are widely considered the best in Africa. The first and last time Botswana hosted an African football youth championship was way back in 1997, 18 years ago. The bid was hasty but Confederation of African Football ended up giving Botswana the nod. Despite being hosts, Botswana was also ill-prepared for the tournament and it was not surprising when they were knocked out in the group stages. It must be borne in mind that Botswana faced some of Africa’s strongest countries being Egypt, Mali and Ivory Coast. Botswana lost 0-2 to Egypt, 1-2 to Mali and 0-7 to Ivory Coast. Though Botswana crashed out of the tournaments during the early stages, the benefits of hosting were there for everybody to see.
The tournament produced house hold names like Mogogi Gabonamong, Mompati Thuma, Oteng Moalosi, and Edwin Disang. Immediately after the tournament, Disang was invited for trials in Belgium because scouts who descended into Botswana saw his talent and potential. Before then it was unheard of for local players to be invited for trials in Europe. Local players even found it tough to break into the competitive South African league.
A little later, Gabonamong was also invited for practice at the world’s most successful club, Manchester United in England. Gabonamong is currently the core member of the senior national team and he plays professional football at the South African Premier League. Thuma on the other hand went on to become an integral part of the senior national team, Zebras and was even part of the historic Zebras team that made its African Cup of Nations maiden appearance, co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, in 2012. Just two years before Botswana hosted the 1997 tournament, Botswana had for the first time in history qualified for the same tournament in Mali.
Even in Mali the team performed dismally but even then the results were there for the nation to see. Many Batswana even named the team Botswana’s golden generation. The team had the likes of Diphetogo Selolwane, Tshepiso Malatsi (now Molwantwa), Noah Kareng, Masego Nchingane, Mokaedi Barnes Maplanka, Thero Gaadingwe, Desmond Hambira, Seabo Gabanakgosi, Mogorosi Motswagae, Phaza Butale to mention just a few.
Selolwane went on to make a name for himself in both the USA and even South Africa. In the USA he played College football before turning for giants like Real Salt Lake. In South Africa, Selolwane mostly played for Engen Santos, Ajax Cape Town, Jomo Cosmos and even University of Pretoria where he winded up his career. Most of the players were kind of revolutionists for the senior national team as the team started improving in Africa and ended up making it to Afcon 2012. In 2013 the national Under 17 also qualified for the Africa Championship that was held in Morocco, though they did not make it out of the group stages. Already most players from that team are the envy of many. Football pundit, Fobby Radipotsane opines that Botswana should make it a habit to host international youth tournaments because it will seriously benefit the country in the long run.
“Most African countries that do well in international tournaments breathe and eat football as if it’s a religion. That is not the case in Botswana, and if we are to match them we have to always qualify for African youth tournaments. We normally struggle to qualify and as such we should find a way of matching those countries that do well. The realistic option would be to try to host. By doing that we will be forced to develop and nurture our talent,” he said. Radipotsane added that Botswana should develop a tendency of hosting because even the economic status of the country allows that. He said even many companies will come on board because they would also want to be part of the success. “I think we should start with what South Africa used to do, hosting the four nations tournament by inviting three other African countries. We would then move to both Under 17 and 20 Championships and I can tell you we will one day be a force to reckon with,” he said. Radipotsane also decried the fact that that the few good players the country produces are not given enough attention.
“As a result only a few of the good players who come out actually make it to the big teams,” he said.
