After a two-week talent identification exercise at district and Regional level across the country, the U-17 national team technical panel has come up with 88 players who will compete for places at national level.
Coach Decleck Msakakuwona and his team will now work on coming up with the final squad of 40 players from the 88.
FAM Technical Director John Kaputa said: “The U17 technical panel was assigned to lead the two groups that that handled the selection process so that they select players that will help them achieve their plans.
“The district cluster selection process was handled by our colleagues from Massa, National Youth Football Association and District Coaches but the regional phase involved the technical panel who were divided into two groups and each group had two regions to select the players that will fit their plans.
“In the Central region, 22 players were identified out of 105 who came for trials, in the north, 20 out of 79 players were identified. The group that went to the Eastern Region on Saturday and Southern Region on Sunday discovered 23 players from each region out or 80 and 82 players respectively.
“After the regional phase, the players will now have to undergo some trials at national level for us to come up with a final squad of 40 players.”
The Junior Flames are expected to compete at this year’s Cosafa U-17 tournament which will be played as part of the Region 5 Games in Lesotho in December.
The team is expected to play host to the 2022 Region 5 games which will be used as the 2023 AFCON Youth Qualifiers.
