Dubai: Former Real Madrid defender Michel Salgado, now director of the du Football Champions (duFC), said it’s only a matter of time before local talent ends up abroad, after watching the latest round of the local youth development programme.
Last year’s UAE Schools Cup Under-16 runners-up French School are top of their group after beating Dubai National School Al Twar, while last year’s winners International School Choueifat also kept their lead with one week to go in the group stages.
Choueifat are also going strong in the Under-14 category with 17 goals in two matches.
In the UAE Streets Cup, Gold Diggers and Santos were standout teams, while in the Girl’s Challenge Go Pro Sports and Fushion FC shone.
Top talents were Fabio Rollano, 14, from Dubai English Speaking College (DESC), and Tarek Ahmad, also 14, of Gold Diggers, who scored a double hat-trick in one match.
Scouts were also impressed with Jay Baisley, Ahmad Malal, Barbod Mazloumian and Hussain Hawi.
The best players will now be invited to train at the du La Liga High Performance Centre.
“With a few spots left to fill with top talents, and the fantastic individual talents we are starting to see in Dubai, I am certain we will in the near future see some of the players in professional clubs both nationally and internationally,” said Salgado.
Full games results are posted on:
— www.dufc.ae
— www.facebook.com/UAESchoolsCup
— www.facbook.com/UAEStreetCup
