21 January 2019 – The South African Football Association (SAFA) has engaged with the SRSA, Department of Justice and Gauteng SAPS with a view to develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with bogus football academies.
It has been brought to our attention that unscrupulous individuals pose as coaches, recruit young players/boys from various provinces and in some cases, the continent with the promise of placing them with football clubs in the Premier Soccer League (PSL), mostly in Gauteng.
Problems that have been reported from these bogus academies include false registration papers, alleged sexual abuse, unhealthy living conditions and the embezzlement of the money from desperate parents.
Whenever SAFA is made aware of these suspicious bogus academies, members from the affected Region are sent to inspect it and where necessary, involve the Police.
It is a source of grave concern to SAFA however, that many parents continue to entrust their children to these false coaches in the hope that their children will make it within the professional football ranks.
It is SAFA’s hope that the collaboration with government agencies will lead to the arrest of those who break the law and the ability to track the operators of the academies whenever they change addresses, as they often do when exposed.
SAFA is grateful of SAPS management in Gauteng for the commitment to lead and coordinate this effort.
For guidance on the processes for the attachment of academies, kindly refer to the attached Regulations which were approved by the NEC.