Fabrice Ondoa: Cameroon star renovates his former academy

Fabrice Ondoa has renovated his old football academy in Cameroon to help aspiring footballers get the desired training they need to achieve their dream.

As reported by Orange Football Club, the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations winner, who started out at AS Valencia de Yaounde, spoke about the launch of his new project.

Speaking modestly at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium, Ondoa described how he had restored his old stomping ground.

"This is not a new academy, rather the old academy that guided my first steps in football,” the goalie told journalists at the Omnisports Stadium. “Instead of setting up a new training centre, I wanted to express my gratitude to this school, which has greatly contributed to shaping the man and the footballer that I am today, hence this mutation.”

The transformed training facility, Academy Fabrice Ondoa, is free and receptive to every hopeful Cameroonian seeking a career in the sport.

The academy’s promoter also emphasized that it will not be limited to football training, but also help people become well-rounded individuals, and will receive the support of respected organizations like Unicef.

“Our Academy also proposes to make its young boarders men with well-made heads, able to integrate socio-professionally. Our slogan is moreover: to link football to education and schooling for a better future," he added.

Ondoa then went on to outline other objectives of the training facility.

“Without pretending to make a revolution, we want to make our contribution to the construction of this sport that has given us so much, to get more Roger Millas, Samuel Eto'os and... Fabrice Ondoas.”

While the academy is still looking to secure the required infrastructure, the players will train on clay courts of Yaounde in the interim.

Ondoa was selected in Clarence Seedorf’s initial 34-man preliminary Africa Cup of Nations squad – which has since risen to 37 players – and the 2017 champion could also be in goal for the Central Africans in Egypt as they seek to defend their title.

Seedorf’s charges begin their title defence in Group F against Guinea-Bissau on June 25, before facing off with four-time champions Ghana on June 29, with their final group encounter coming against Benin on July 2.