Friday Focus - Spanish Football & Player Plus (Michael Koopowitz) Nike Academy

When the world of football has moved its' attention to Germany, we thought we would fly you back to Spain. Before the football hyenas out there convince you otherwise, we should not forget the accomplishments this country has had. Over the past few years Spain has dominated European & World football at club and intentional level, the rest of the world has had to play catch up and it seems some countries have caught up. Our respect for Spanish football should not diminish and vanish as quickly as we fell in-love with their achievements, the strength of their rise was built on development and that is how it shall recover.

Last week, #TeamGlobal athlete Michael Koopowitz traveled to Spain with his Nike Academy team-mates to take on RCD Espanyol and F.C Barcelona. The young South African and his team were able to experience an opportunity that many young footballers dream of, F.C Barcelona and RCD Espanyol much like other Spanish teams have well established youth development systems. Spain has been able to produce talented footballers from these set ups and enhanced their reputation across the globe. Investing in the future pays off, the titles Spanish football at International and Club level is proof, I believe this is something we still lack in South African football.

Koopowitz spoke about his trip as being a ''once in a lifetime opportunity'',  the organisation and professionalism is of a high standard. We may think Spain has the finances to back them but in truth this isn't a wealthy country, yet they are still able to use what they have to produce such talents as Xavi, Iniesta, Fernando Torres, Sergio Ramos, David De Gea, Santi Carzola, Juan Mata and etc.



Development is such a key element in football, its not something that can be quickly fixed...it takes time, sufficient judgement and management. Koopowitz and his side came away with 2-0 and 3-0 defeats but what they learnt from their trip was invaluable, it also shows the strength of these outfits. The young South African had this to say about the F.C Barcelona game in particular, ''They played 'Barcelona football'...brilliant, although we played well in the later stages of the game and I feel I did well when I came on.''. The 'tiki-taka' style of play isn't something that only the first team can do, this is a system and style the entire club follows. Yes La Masia is arguably the best academy in the world but the other Spanish clubs are able to produce their diamonds too, at a national level the system is the same. They may not all be Barca players, but they are able to adjust to the system and play winning football for the country.

I believe as a country we could learn a lot from the Spanish, our development systems are good but we have the means to make them better. Our coaches also need to understand that the future is the youth, not enough of teens are given regular opportunities in first teams. Coaches may argue they not good enough but that shows a lack of management on their behalf, give the young-guns a chance to prove themselves. Kudos to Michael Koopowitz on representing himself and the country during his trip to Spain, we hope more young South Africans can experience such things in the future.

If you would like to follow Michael Koopowitz and The Nike Academy you can do so on these social network platforms :

• Twitter - @MichaelKoop7
• Facebook - NikeAcademy

Here are clips of F.C Barcelona's 'Tiki-Taka' warm ups.