Richard Nkosi

Richard Nkosi

Eighteen schools in Mbombela municipality in Nelspruit have joined the newly established Development League 2010.

Abel Nkuna, director of Easthigh College of Excellence, initiated the league.

"It is our quest to develop a pool of quality football players who will feed to local teams in our city, which will see the city having a Premier Soccer League (PSL) team emanating from this development and producing players of international quality," he said.

Nkuna said players of the same age group should be kept playing together for five years, beginning from this year until 2010.

"As this development will be school based, the entry grade will be grade eight, meaning that the age group is 13 or 14 years of age," he said.

"By the time they are 17 or 18 years in Grade 12 they shall have completed a circle of five years playing together and the outcomes expected will be great."

He said players should eventually have a uniform level of technical ability and awareness .

The league has been endorsed by the Mpumalanga department of education and Safa. It will kick off in February each year and end in October.