Former Bloemfontein Celtic and Chippa United striker Lerato Manzini has acquired the fourth-tier status of Monyakeng Juve FC, creating a senior football outlet for players developed through his Welkom Football Academy.
The club competes in the Lejweleputswa Regional League in the Free State. Manzini established the academy in 2024 and says the acquisition is intended to prevent promising players from being lost when they reach the end of their school-based development.
For an academy operating in a football community such as Welkom, the move is aimed at addressing a familiar gap between youth development and senior competition. Players may progress through the age-group system without securing a contract in the Premier Soccer League or receiving a scholarship. The new senior side is intended to provide another step in that process.
“We decided to buy the status so that we can use a Hollywood team as our senior team, because most of the players who graduate do not always receive PSL contracts, and sometimes we lose them,” Manzini said.
A route beyond school football
The academy currently works with Welkom High School and accommodates players in the under-12, under-13, under-15 and under-17 age groups. Its planned Regional League team will allow some of those players to remain within the same development structure after they have moved beyond the academy’s usual age limit.
Manzini said the academy could only retain players until the age of 19 under its existing structure. Acquiring the club status means older players can continue training and competing while pursuing opportunities that may not yet have materialised at professional level.
“At the academy, you can only keep players until the age of 19,” he said. “Buying the status was the big decision we made so that we don’t lose the players.”
The arrangement is not presented as a replacement for professional football. Instead, the Regional League team is intended to offer additional playing time, continued coaching and a competitive environment for players who remain in development.
Young squad planned for Regional League
The Regional League season had not started at the time of Manzini’s comments. He said the club’s group would include the academy’s under-19 players, supplemented by a small number of older footballers.
| Development level | Role in the structure |
|---|---|
| Under-12 to under-17 | Age-group teams at the Welkom Football Academy |
| Under-19 | Existing academy players expected to form much of the senior team |
| Under-23 | Regional League group including players aged up to 23 |
Manzini said the team would effectively operate as an under-23 group, with the majority of the squad coming from the academy’s under-19 team. A few players aged 23 have also been added to provide older representation in the squad.
The age profile reflects the purpose of the project: keeping developing players involved in organised football while they continue to learn the game. It also gives the academy a competitive setting in which to assess players after they have moved beyond the younger age groups.
Technical and administrative demands
Running a senior team brings responsibilities that differ from those associated with youth development. Manzini acknowledged that he was taking on work outside his previous experience as the academy’s founder and credited the club’s technical director, Malesego Lithuge, with bringing valuable management experience to the project.
“There’s a lot of work that I’m not familiar with,” Manzini said, while also recognising Lithuge’s experience in managing the football operation.
The acquisition therefore adds a new layer to the academy’s work. Alongside coaching younger players, the organisation must now prepare a team for Regional League competition and manage the transition of players from school and age-group football into the senior game.
Keeping local players in the system
Manzini’s stated objective is to retain players who might otherwise leave the academy after failing to secure immediate professional opportunities. In practical terms, the senior team gives those footballers a place to continue developing rather than ending their involvement when they reach the upper age limit of the academy.
- The senior team will compete in the Lejweleputswa Regional League.
- Most of its players are expected to come through the Welkom Football Academy.
- The squad will include academy players under 19 and several older players, forming an under-23 group.
- The Regional League season had not yet started when the plans were announced.
For footballers from Welkom and the surrounding Lejweleputswa area, the structure could provide an additional local platform. Its success will depend on the academy’s ability to maintain development standards while adapting to the demands of senior competition, but the stated aim is clear: create continuity for players whose careers do not immediately move into the PSL.
Manzini said the Regional League team would help the academy teach its players more about football. The project extends his work from identifying and developing young talent to creating a place where that talent can continue to play, train and progress after school.
