The Rovers Under-10 team is set to compete in the Super Final of the Madewis Cup, a prestigious football tournament in France that brings together more than 12,000 amateur players aged 6 to 13. The tournament will be held from the 1st to the 4th of June in Bastia, Corsica, and will see the young Rovers players compete against some of the best young teams in Europe, including Olympique Lyonnais, FC Metz, AC Ajaccio, Benfica, FC Nantes, Olympique de Marseille and S.C Bastia.
The Under-10 team is made up of talented young Seychellois players selected from schools around the country based on their technical footballing ability. Over the last year, the team has been training intensively, three to four times a week, under the supervision of head coach Rupert Pool and the academy director Lucas Panayi.
The trip has been made possible with the assistance of generous sponsors, as the allocated budget for this year’s tournament was unexpectedly cancelled by the Seychelles Football Federation. “As our key sponsor, Absa Bank Seychelles has continued to provide significant support and this has made such trips possible for our young players,” said Lucas Panayi, director of the Rovers academy. “Others have also stepped forward to help including Hunt Deltel, Eden Island Marina, 7 South, Boat House, Spar, Surfline, Panafricare, Bodco, and Dr. Magdalena Baska, and we are grateful for their assistance and generosity.”
Playing in the Super Final of the Madewis Cup will provide a valuable opportunity for the young Rovers players to showcase their skills and compete at a high level. Head coach Rupert Pool expressed his excitement for the challenge, stating, “It will be a huge challenge but one the players have been working hard to prepare for. We are excited to see how they will perform but most importantly we are excited to provide them with this opportunity and valuable experience for their continued football development.”
The delegation will depart Seychelles for France on the 29th of May and spend a few days in a training camp in Marseille before the tournament begins. Upon the completion of the tournament, the team will spend a day in the famous academy of Zinedine Zidane where they will train and play together with their French counterparts before returning to Seychelles on the 8th of June.