Publications
Partners
South African Fleetwood Town midfielder Akiel Raffie says that he hopes to one day play for Bafana Bafana.
The 17-year-old has been at Fleetwood since 2014 after dazzling the scouts during a tournament in England.
Soon afterwards, he signed for the club's academy and has not looked back since.
"How I got to sign for Fleetwood town I actually got scouted while playing at a Lancashire youth tournament in England," he said, as quoted by FARpost.
"We had a great run in that tournament and eventually won it and immediately Fleetwood signed me to join their youth academy.”
He added: "I can actually play anywhere in the middle of the park I like to play a deep role protecting the defence.
"I can also play at a more advanced role in midfield so I could say I’m a box-to-box midfielder actually.”
Raffie has a South African father and an Australian mother and has confidently opted to play for Bafana Bafana if he makes the bar to play at national level one day - he has already trained with Fleetwood's first team.
"Yes, my father is South African which makes me South African... I'm really connected to that part of my life and one day I want to play for South Africa," he said.
"I've actually spent so much time with the U23s and the first team in the past 12 months so it's a good thing because I train with them every week. The coach believes in giving young players a chance hopefully my chance will come soon," he concluded.
- Compiled by Tashreeq Vardien
